Liebherr's big deal at Colmar

Liebherr threw its hat in the ring last week with two simultaneous initiatives. It announced its biggest-ever hydraulic shovel, the 530t R.996 at its factory at Colmar, France. Then it dropped the bombshell of its acquisition of US heavy dumptruck maker Wiseda. That means Liebherr can now offer so-called integrated solutions to mine and quarry operators. In other words, it can match its loaders to its haulers. This is increasingly seen as important by cost-conscious operators keen to firm the bottom line.

The R.996 is impressive, from its 28m3 face shovel bucket to its twin V-16 Cummins diesels which have a combined power output of 2,240kW at 1,800rpm. That feeds into no fewer than 16 hydraulic pumps (eight per engine) for the main circuits and four for the swing circuit. Electronic monitoring of engine/hydraulic functions uses the Litronic system which has stood Liebherr in good stead for some years now.

There's lots of room around the power units, so hard work even in hot climates shouldn't be a problem. Neither should maintenance when it's needed. Yet the machine is quite heavy for its rated bucket capacity.

The operator has a good time of it in the R.996 with full climate control as standard and easy-action levers to control motions.

The first production unit is being shipped to Australia and the second is being built for shipment to the USA. It will be mounted on a spud barge for dredging. The buyer is the Dutra Group of San Rafael, California which has also bought an R.994 to go on a similar vessel. They'll be the largest of their type in the US. It'll be interesting to see who takes the first in this country.

Wiseda makes rigid dumptrucks at Baxter Springs, Kansas and it has made some big strides in its relatively short life of just 13 years. But, even in 1982, Wiseda came in strong with the first diesel/electric 240 (short)ton dumptruck on two axles.

Ed Andrews, Wiseda vp of sales service, said:'It won't be too long before we've got a 320 (short)tonner on two axles up and running. The big hold-up has been the lack of tyre technology but that is about to be overcome by developments.'

Wiseda offers engine choices from Detroit, Cummins and MTU (with power outputs from 1,500kW up to 1,875kW), but the wheel motors are all General Electric which is industry-standard practice. The operator's cab is larger than normal and Wiseda says its frame life can extend out to around 60,000 hours without problems. In fact, it introduced this as a non pro-rata warranty item back in 1990. 'If you have a frame problem on your Wiseda truck at 59,000 hours then it's just the same as if it happened at 100 hours,' said Andrews. 'Wiseda will accept responsibility.'

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