Quicklift Crane Hire based in Shepperton recently took delivery of a new Liebherr LTM 1250-5.1, the largest crane in its fleet to provide an even higher level of service to its customer base.
Quicklift crane hire is a family run business which was started in 1998 by husband-and-wife team Jarrod and Karli Sutherland has grown to over 20 cranes and recently celebrated the arrival of a brand new LTM 1250-5.1.
Quicklift have had multiple Liebherrs during its time operating and have enjoyed the functionality and ease of operation the cranes have.
“It is just a good quality crane, and they are fairly universal. The first Liebherr we had was an 80 tonne and even now you can go between different cranes. They are pretty similar in their operation that’s one thing Liebherr do well. An operator can get out of one crane and into another and even though it’s a different size crane it is still fundamentally the same operating system,” said Sutherland.
The LTM 1250-5.1 is the most powerful mobile crane on five axles on the market. It is the third crane model on which Liebherr uses its innovative single-engine concept.
The Liebherr innovations VarioBase and ECOmode mean that crane operators can use the LTM 1250-5.1 with even more safety and efficiency.
In the development of the new crane, Liebherr followed the concept of achieving maximum load capacity from the available weight of a 5-axle mobile crane.
This larger capacity is what drew Sutherland and the Quicklift team to the crane.
“It is a little bit of a step up, we had a 220 Grove and we moved up to a 250 Liebherr, we recognised there was more demand for something a bit bigger the 220 compared to the 250 doesn’t sound like much of a difference, but in some parts of the chart it has up to 30 per cent greater capacity,” he said..
The LTM 1250-5.1 is the most powerful crane in its class in the world. Its load capacity has been increased compared to its predecessor by around 15 – 20 per cent whilst the telescopic boom has remained at the same length of 60m. With lattice extensions the maximum hook height has been increased by a massive 9m to 110m.
“Obviously the LTM 1250-5.1 allows us to do a few more jobs that we couldn’t do with the 220. Greater lifting capacity helps and obviously being a later model crane – our other one was a bit older – and we wanted to avoid reliability issue’s as well,” Jarrod said.
VarioBallast is a new feature for Liebherr. The LTM 1250-5.1 can be operated with two different ballast radii of 5.58 m or 4.78 m.
Liebherr has designed a solution to adjust the ballast radius particularly quickly and easily. The ballast radius is reduced by 800 millimetres using standard mechanically swivelling ballasting cylinders.
This solution is a major benefit of the new 250-tonne model for use in constricted conditions.
“You can put the VarioBallast in a couple of different positions and allows you to set up in a bit of a tighter space and has been pretty handy. Also, with the VarioBase if you are working without a full counterweight, it gives you a greater capacity over your outriggers,” said Sutherland.
Liebherr has a particularly wide and variable range of lattice jibs for the LTM 1250-5.1. The 12.2 m to 22 m folding jib can be extended up to 36 m with 7-metre sections.
The adapter section for the folding jib is used as a 5.4 m erection jib. The pivot point for the folding jib can be raised using up to two straight 7m lattice sections acting as telescopic boom extensions. These sections and the folding jib extensions can also be used on the Liebherr LTM 1200-5.1 and LTM 1220-5.2 mobile cranes.
This is a major benefit for crane operators that use these crane models in their fleet.
One feature that has been unusual in the 5-axle class to date is the possibility to mount a long-fixed jib which, for example can achieve enormous radii over buildings.
It is now possible to achieve a fixed jib of up to 50 m in length with just one additional TF adapter (connection between the telescopic boom and the fixed jib), a reducer section and a head.
The existing telescopic boom extensions and folding jib extensions are used for this purpose. This jib is generally hydraulically adjustable between 0° and 45° and can therefore be used like a luffing jib.
A six-cylinder Liebherr diesel engine in the undercarriage which develops 400 kW / 544 bhp and torque of 2,516 Nm, provides the LTM 1250-5.1 with plenty of power.
The engine meets the Stage IV / Tier 4f emissions regulations.
The power is transferred to the crane’s axles by the 12-speed ZF-AS-Tronic gearbox.
A two-stage distributor gear permits minimal creeper speeds in manoeuvring mode.
The intarder, a zero-wear hydrodynamic brake integrated in the gearbox, acts as a retarder.
Like almost all LTM mobile crane models, the LTM 1250-5.1 is fitted with pneumatic disc brakes.
The rear axles on the 250-tonner have active electro-hydraulic steering depending on the vehicles speed. This increases the manoeuvrability of the vehicle and drastically reduces tyre wear. Five steering programmes can be conveniently selected at the touch of a button.
“The Liebherrs have a really good resale value as well which is a bonus for us,” he said.
The Quicklift team, in particular the mechanics have been impressed by the after sales service provided by Liebherr, particularly for a reginal business such as Quicklift.
“The relationship we have had with the Liebherr people particularly the technical support has been fantastic which gives you confidence when buying their machines.”
“The mechanics enjoy working on them, they think they’re good. They like them from a servicing point of view, and it is easy to get parts,” said Sutherland.
Quicklift is continuing to go from strength to strength. The LTM 1250-5.1 is currently working on a number of projects completing a wide variety of work including some concrete panel erection.