The production of Liebherr LR 1600/2 crawler crane has been discontinued, with the last unit delivered to customer at the end of October. The successor to this model, the new LR 1700-1.0, was launched earlier in June.
The 600-t LR 1600/2 was one of Liebherr’s most successful crawler cranes, manufactured at the company’s Ehingen plant in Germany. It was originally designed for wind power applications and the first unit was delivered in mid 2008.
Apart from the standard version, the LR 1600/2 was also offered with narrow crawler track, known as the LR 1600/2-W. The latter could travel along narrow crawlers in wind farms more easily than the standard version. According to Liebherr, the narrow track version accounted for around one-quarter of these cranes worldwide.
Initially, the LR 1600/2 was delivered in its SL4DFB configuration, designed for wind turbines with a hub height of 130 to 135 m. In this configuration, the crane had a main boom of 138 m and a fixed jib of 12 m. This was the benchmark for turbines with a hub height of 135 m.
Over the next few years, however, the size of wind turbines increased dramatically up to hub heights of 150 m or more, thus changing the requirements for the crane. The lifting capacities and hoisting heights of the boom systems were continuously modified with the SL10 and SL13 versions. These booms enabled the crane to handle wind turbines with hub heights of 150 m.
Furthermore, the LR 1600/2 was not only used for wind power, it was also deployed on infrastructure projects. Often equipped with a ballast wagon or suspended ballast, the crane “impressed users” with its lifting capacity. Over the years, Liebherr unveiled more innovations for its crawler crane portfolio, including the B2 guide and VarioTray for suspended ballast, which eliminates the complicated stacking and unstacking of ballast slabs by simply disconnecting a whole ballast pallet.
The 223rd and last unit of Liebherr LR 1600/2 left the Ehingen factory for Van Adrighem in the Netherlands. Its successor, the LR 1700-1.0, is a 700-t crane suitable for wind turbines with hub heights of 165 m and can lift loads of over 100-t to this height.
