COMPANY PROFILE Ӏ CRAWLER CRANES
j hydraulic system being used. Only the electrical system and software are added. There’s also increased
opportunities for ‘cross-pollination’ within the model range with the F2 jibs from the LR 11000 being offered on the new LR 1700.1.0, at 170 t capacity, and LR 1800.1.0, at 185 t capacity.
Announced at Liebherr
Customer Days 2018 the LR 1800.1.0 introduced a new transport concept and a new counterweight system including the V-Frame hydraulically adjustable folding frame allowing auxiliary counterweight radii of 14 to 23m. Following consultations in Ehingen between Klaus Huberle, general manager crawler cranes, and other Liebherr team members with Buckner’s sales director, Kevin Long, the concept of the
Wasel's LR 11000
eighth generation SL8F2 fixed jib emerged with a capacity of 250 t – a huge increase from the original 180 t. Upon completion of the collaborative effort Long agreed that the LR 11000 was now “the benchmark for windpower in the USA”. The benefits of this intense
product development effort and collaboration between crane manufacturer and users are many and varied. Existing models of crane have been redeveloped to handle tasks that were seemingly far beyond their original capacities. This optimisation has always been a factor in crane design and development but rarely on this scale. The economies extended to crane service providers, their end-customers, transportation, not to mention the environment are far reaching indeed. Such has been the pace and scale of wind turbine development that modern large cranes such as the 600 t Liebherr LR 1600/2 and Terex-Demag CC 2800-1 already find much of the work beyond their capacity – and even cranes of up to 750 t cannot handle the tallest towers. Transportation logistics and
costs were also key considerations. The LR 1800.1.0 is the largest crawler crane with a 3m transport width. Also, for the first time, the boom and jib systems of the new LR 1800.1.0 and LR 1700.1.0 can be transported with three elements telescoped inside each other. With 96m boom and 96m jib this allows five complete truck loads to be dispensed with. New on the new 700 t Liebherr LR 1700.1.0 is a new S2W system which can be raised without the derrick boom to 66m Guy rods of stationary aramid
fibre are now standard on Liebherr fixed jibs. The new fixed jibs are designed for both single and parallel use meaning that limited rope length is no longer a problem as two winches can work at the
same time over the jib. In parallel mode a special winch hook block prevents the block twisting while a tilt sensor ensures that both winches automatically operate synchronously. Also the whip line is integrated on the end section of the fixed jibs to reduce weight. It also has its own load measuring system to increase safety in two- hook operation.
SOARING DEMAND One should probably be sympathetic to the labours of mobile crane manufacturing planners. In recent years demand for crawler cranes (of all sizes, worldwide) has climbed to unbelievable heights and also suffered the uncertainties of Covid and lock-down. Up to 50% of the surge in demand has been driven by China – both actual domestic consumption and overseas supplies under the Road & Bridge programme. In this respect it’s important to distinguish demand for various types and sizes class of crane between traditional markets (primarily Europe, North America) and the so-called ‘emerging markets’ of China and Central/ East Asia. As is well known, demand for small-to-medium size (50 t and below 100 t capacity) crawler cranes in Europe and North America has hovered at a pretty low level for many years now. Quite the contrary is true for China and many emerging markets. To that end the Chinese manufacturers including Sany, XCMG and Zoomlion have developed broad new ranges of cranes of 45-to 100-tonnes capacity. Demand in China and Asia is running north of 1,000 units while in Europe and America you can count sales on a few hands. Meanwhile demand for crawler cranes of over 500 t capacity, driven particularly by wind power applications is at an all-time high with sales of cranes in these f
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