Liebherr’s LR 13000 is not only the most powerful conventional crawler crane in the world, it is now also the highest. In July it was erected in its maximum lattice boom configuration at the manufacturing plant in Ehingen, Germany. The combination of the 120 m main boom and the 126 m luffing jib produces a lattice boom system with an overall length of 246 m. Mounted on the solid crawler chassis, the crane thus reaches a height of 248 m.

This means that the Liebherr crawler crane is 86 m higher than Ulm Minster, which has the highest church spire in the world at 162 m. The LR 13000 could lift a load of 624 tonnes on to Ulm Minster in a single hoist – the equivalent of around 600 small cars.

With its maximum boom length at its steepest angle its load capacity is 68 tonnes. The stability of the boom system was successfully tested on the acceptance procedure site at Liebherr-Werk Ehingen GmbH with a load of 103 t.

For the world record the LR 13000 was fitted with 400 tonnes of slewing platform ballast and 1500 tonnes of derrick ballast on a special foundation with a large number of lattice segments for the 246 m boom being bolted together on the ground. The derrick winch was then started with its massive rope and the main boom was then slowly raised. The wheels on the pulley cart on which the top of the luffing jib was mounted, also started to turn and the cart moved towards the base machine.

The LR 13000 is erected in Ehingen

CABLES AND BOOM
The cables were then installed between the guy rods and the lattice boom to provide additional guying for the luffing jib. The main boom was raised further whilst the luffing jib was angled downwards even further. After the roller cart was released the hook block was reeved in on a two-line basis. After this the boom system weighing a total of 700 tonnes was raised rapidly. The first load hoisted into the air by the crane was a twin-axle mobile crane, an LTM 1030-2.1 weighing in at 24 tonnes.

The LR 13000 reaches its maximum boom length with the single main boom and the luffing jib. When fitted with the Liebherr PowerBoom, the double boom in the lower section, the achievable lengths are reduced as a result of the higher boom weight, but the load capacities are considerably higher. When fitted with the PowerBoom, which consists of the lattice sections of the standard luffing jib and a strong luffing jib consisting of main boom lattice sections, the LR 13000 can hoist around 330 tonnes to a height of 202 m.

The Liebherr family business was established in 1949 by Hans Liebherr. The great success of his first mobile, easy-to-assemble and affordable tower crane was the foundation on which the company flourished. Today Liebherr is not only one of the world’s leading manufacturers of construction machinery but is also an acknowledged supplier of technically innovative user-oriented products and services in numerous other fields. The company has now grown into a group with approximately 38,000 employees in more than 130 companies across all continents.