Those impressed by size may make a bee-line to see Liebherr’s LTM 1500 which has “the world’s longest telescopic boom” according to the manufacturer, at 84m long in seven sections. This 500t-capacity AT succeeds the 400t LTM 1400, whose boom was a mere 50m in comparison. A three section, 50m compact version is also available, giving a crane service weight of 96t and allowing the boom to be transported on the crane. The 84m boom needs to be transported on a trailer. A fixed or lattice luffing fly jib takes the reach to 91m.
Liebherr is also premiering the 80t LTM 1080 mobile crane, a successor to the 70t LTM 1070/1. The boom has been lengthened by 2m to 48m and it offers “a substantially broader operating range” than the predecessor, Liebherr says. The cabin has also been re-designed.
More muscle will be on show at the Demag display. Mannesmann Dematic describes its new AC650, a nine-axled AT with a 650t lifting capacity, as “the world’s most powerful telescopic crane. The five section main boom telescopes to 60m. No auxiliary crane is needed for assembly and road-going weight is kept at 100t or 108t.
The AC 650 is one of three new models being presented by Demag, which has also renamed its AC telescopic mobile cranes to match designations to lifting capacities, as reported in Cranes Today last month.
The AC 40-1 has a distinctive boom-down design, along the lines of the AC 25 (formerly AC 75), but sits on three axles rather than two. It has a fully powered five-section main boom that reaches 31m and a 13m folding jib which is carried on board. As is now clear under the new nomenclature, maximum load capacity is 40t. It has an overall carrier length of 7.1m and travels at 85kmh.
The AC 120 has a fully hydraulic 60m main boom with a 17m folding jib, offsettable to 40o, and 120t capacity. Demag asserts that the 79m tip height is the best on board height and reach in its class.
Strength and length are not everything, Tadano Faun has found after extensive market research. It has spent a lot of time talking to crane buyers, users and operators, as well as regulatory bodies. The message it got back was that punters were more interested in mobility and manœuvrability, coupled with good boom lengths and lifting abilities, rather than being simply focussed on record-breaking lengths and capacities alone. Operators also wanted an adequate margin for their own rigging equipment to be carried on board.
The result is the ATF 60-4 (60t capacity on four axles) compact taxi crane. The ATF 60-4 is 2.5m wide, 11.7m long (the carrier is 9.8m long) and 3.6m high. The five section fully hydraulic boom gives a tip height of 43m and is extended by a single cylinder, a double cylinder and a rope crowd extension system. It has a newly designed cab, which Tadano Faun says “can easily be identified on any job-site in Europe”.
Tadano is also showing the Japanese 10t-capacity mini-RT, the Crevo 100, and the recently uprated ATF 120-5, which now has a 130t maximum lifting capacity.
Autogru Rigo is showing its 90t-capacity all-terrain RTT 904 whose 30m boom has been given a new telescoping system, improving its lifting capacity, particularly between 16m and 25m boom lengths.
Grove’s line-up includes the first international showing of its new flagship 250t AT, the GMK 6250 (as featured in a special promotional wallchart in this issue). This is the first all-new product to emerge from the Wilhelmshaven plant since its acquisition from Krupp.
Grove is also showing a new 20t rough terrain crane in Middle East configuration, the RT 522B, which succeeds the RT 422 and is a younger brother to the RT 528. Bauma also gives Grove the opportunity to show of its new 10t Yard Boss industrial crane, the YB 4410, and the 30t National Crane 1500 truck crane. The 1500 has been CE marked and is possibly the first stiff-boom truck crane to be promoted in Europe. Except for in the UK, truck cranes are generally considered just about dead in Europe, killed off by ATs, but Grove reckons that with its 38m boom the National 1500 can find a niche in prefabricated housing construction. The crane is mounted on a Mercedes-Benz Actros carrier, but in the UK will be on a Daf.
