CRAWLER CRANES Ӏ COMPANY PROFILE
j Rudolf Becker was personally recruited by Dr. Hans Liebherr in 1971 after having spent seven years at Gottwald and eight at Demag. He is the author of ‘the’ most-authoritative book on the design and technology of mobile cranes: ‘The great book of mobile and crawler cranes’ (ISBN 3-934518 -00-2) published in 2001. In 1994 he was succeeded as technical director by Dr. Ulrich Hamme with whom he sat down in 2019 during one of his regular visits to Ehingen. There he told Dr. Hamme and marketing manager Wolfgang Beringer ‘The interest in cranes never leaves you’ (See Liebherr magazine UpLoad 2019). 1998’s introduction of the LR
1400 would lay the foundation for further large-size crawler crane development for Liebherr. By this time the use of ancillary counterweights – either mounted on wagons, rails or free-floating – was gaining favour. Having been a pioneer in this field with the rail- mounted auxiliary counterweight of the TVA’s LR 1300s it was familiar ground to Liebherr. That experience took Liebherr and the LR 1400/1 to the next step – to connect the ballast wagon to the rear of the crane via a telescopic arm – thus facilitating ‘on-the-go’ versatile radius and thus capacity adjustments. Liebherr’s next crawler crane
to make a big market impact was introduced at Bauma 2001. Originally rated 600 t, the LR 1600/1 was displayed in a rather novel configuration - equipped with outriggers on one side and normal crawler tracks on the other. The exhibit certainly raised eyebrows and generated great interest. That first unit was sold to the famous pioneering German crane rental company Riga-Mainz who had previously boldly acquired the world’s first 400 t and 1,000 t telescopics made by Gottwald.
26 CRANES TODAY
LR 1750/2
owned by Huffermann showing Vario Tray
The unusual 12.6m x 12.6m
hydraulic outrigger base of the LR 1600/1 massively increased wide-radii capacities compared to the normal 8.8m x 10.6m crawler base. In fact, Liebherr claimed capacity increases of up to 267%. Riga-Mainz’ first job for the pedestal crane was on the construction of the iconic A44 road bridge over the River Rhine. Utilising the tele auxiliary
ballast system on the LR 1600/1 was a natural and logical step and the first crane specialist to make use of this was the Austrian Felbermayr Group. On a reactor lift in a refinery in Schwedt, close to the German-Polish border, Felbermayr put the crane to work. Working with 56m boom, 31.5m derrick boom and 665 t total ballast including 350 t in the ballast wagon, the 1600/1 successfully located a 520 t reactor (547 t total load). During the operation the telescopic ballast wagon radii was adjusted from 15m to 18m. Meanwhile, when he saw this pedestal version at ConExpo 2002, AmQuip general manager Frank Bardinaro promptly ordered two units. In January 2003 the LR 1600/1
was renamed LR 1750, rated 750 t @ 8m when equipped with 220 t of superstructure ballast, 31.5m derrick mast and 400 t ballast wagon. Later that year one of the early signs of the growing influence of the wind-power market appeared when Liebherr introduced an erection frame for the LR 1750. This attachment enabled the LR 1750 to install 120m high wind turbine hubs without the need for a derrick mast and ballast. Breuer & Wasel and Wiesbauer added their names as early customers.
By the time that Liebherr filled
the gap between the LR 1400/2 and LR 1750 with the new LR 1600/2 in 2007, although it had become a major player in the heavy crawler crane market, the company still had some catching-up to do. For a decade arch-rival Demag, owned by Terex since 2003, had offered the market a full line of large crawlers and was the acknowledged market leader. The LR 1600/2 was the first hydraulic lattice crawler to go head-to-head with Demag’s very successful 600 t CC 2800-1. Initially rated 600 t @ 10m radius on 48m boom and derrick, the LR 1600/2 had an outstanding standard load moment of f
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