TopGun Cranes recently took a huge step forward by taking delivery of a Liebherr LTM 1300-6.2 300 tonne capacity all terrain. General Manager Phill Martin and Director Barry Ramm, provide the background to the crane’s arrival.
“At TopGun Cranes, we are constantly setting ourselves objectives as a business. The acquisition of this crane was part of a three-stage strategy we devised post the COVID pandemic. We achieved the first two objectives, the third was a larger capacity crane,” said Phill.
“The decision to purchase such a large capacity crane was driven by customer demand. We had regular customers tell us that they weren’t calling us for the bigger lifts because they knew we didn’t have a crane to service the work, so we knew there was a market that we were missing out on.”
TopGun Cranes went about its due diligence and looked at what was available.
“We went to the market, but it was clear Liebherr was able to offer a more complete package deal, which offered us an overall better ‘bang for buck’,” said Phill.
TopGun purchased the LTM 1300-6.2 through Tom Grady, Liebherr’s National Used Crane Manager, Mobile and Crawler cranes.
“The relationship with Tom and Liebherr has been great. We couldn’t speak more highly about the service we have received from Liebherr,” said Phill.
“They have gone over and above to get us and that included a hand over ‘open day’ at their Erskine Park facility. They rolled out the red carpet for TopGun Cranes and we could not be happier. It’s been a real buzz from our perspective and Liebherr understand how important, and how big this step is for us.”
The LTM 1300-6.2 was the first to incorporate an innovative drive concept – the engine in the undercarriage powers the superstructure using a mechanical shaft. This eliminates the need for a second engine. This means one less engine and therefore significantly reduced maintenance costs. The lower weight can be used to increase lifting capacity. On the one hand it is a simple, classic folding jib crane while on the other, it is a small luffing jib crane on the market for crane operators with a low cost entry point into the luffing jib crane class. It also features high performance, economy and variable boom systems.
The six axle all terrain features 78m of main boom, 114m maximum hoist height and a maximum lifting radius of 94m.
“The LTM 1300-6.2 is a unique bit of kit with multiple boom combinations, including fixed fly, luffing fly and strong lifting charts in all configurations. We bought it because it’s a grunty lifter,” said Phill.
The LTM 1300-6.2 has been based at Erskine Park, New South Wales for a number of weeks and during this time, Liebherr completely repainted the crane and conducted training sessions with TopGun’s crews.
“Liebherr utilised painting experts in their paint shop, and it took a few weeks to complete the job. The finish is amazing, you’d think it was a brand-new crane. There were a few little issues which were fixed quickly and then we had a number of weeks getting the dolly prepped. This was designed and manufactured by BTE Engineering in Melbourne. Wherever possible we like to support local businesses,” said Phill.
“We’ve had two weeks of training with the technical experts at Liebherr and that has been invaluable and very educational for the crews. It’s meant the guys can trial and test the crane in every configuration. We also had a couple of jobs while the crane was based in the Liebherr yard, so it’s already been out there working,” he said.
Tom Grady provides more detail about TopGun’s Liebherr LTM 1300-6.2.
“It’s a 2020 model with 40,000 kilometres and 3,700 upper hours. It was in excellent condition and already a well specked unit with 70m luffing fly, adapter for 42m fixed jib, Vario-base, full counterweight and three hooks. As per Barry and Phill’s request we added some new major components: 21m double swing away jib with hydraulic offset, 14 metres of extensions to use in configuration TK and TNZK which then takes the swing away jib out to a length of 35m.
“The crane went through our new purpose-built used crane facility at Berg-Ehingen in Germany where it received a thorough inspection and testing. AQIS (Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service) cleaning, various repairs, mods, servicing, updates, load testing in various configurations, road testing and reinspection were all carried out before shipping to Aus,” said Tom.
“Because of the tight time frame, the crane was then shipped out to our Sydney facility. Our team fitted the dolly preparation RFK and carried out TopGun’s livery painting. Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI), dolly testing, weigh up, New South Wales road registration, 10 yearly major inspection certification, crane safe, and TopGun’s sign writing were all completed, prior to final detailing and quality assurance being carried out. This completed our Liebherr certified Used Cranes process which includes our six-month manufacturer’s warranty.
“We’ve had the TopGun team here doing training for the past few weeks putting the crane together in various configurations. All jibs were installed, including the luffing fly, as seen on the crane at the customer day. It was an absolute pleasure dealing with Barry, Phill and the whole TopGun team throughout the complete process.”
On a hot Sydney day in early December 2024, more than 100 customers and interested parties descended on Liebherr’s Erskine Park facility to see the LTM 1300-6.2 up close and personal.
“We were pleased with the turnout and we are grateful to Liebherr for making this possible. The feedback we’ve received has been very positive,” said Barry.
“The Sydney market is very competitive, and we know this addition takes us to the next level in terms of capabilities, but we’re not interested in ‘taking on the world’.
“We have long-term relationships with our customers and with other crane hire businesses in Sydney, and this investment will ensure we can cater to the needs of our customers more readily.”
Phill and Barry attended the Crane Industry Council of Australia’s (CICA) National Conference and Exhibition hosted by Adelaide in October 2024.
“The CICA Conference and Exhibition is always a great networking opportunity. As I said earlier, we like to support local businesses wherever we can, and I got talking to an engineering and fabricating business from Broken Hill about our requirements for crane pads. We’d been looking to source pads from the US, but it turns out they can manufacture exactly what we want and price the pads competitively. We would never have known of this company if it hadn’t been for CICA,” said Phill.
“With a crane this size there’s a significant amount of transport infrastructure, including the Dolly, required to get the crane on the road. We have a Melbourne trailer company manufacturing support trailers and they can turn these around in seven weeks, which is excellent. Wherever possible, TopGun Cranes will continue to support Australian engineering, design and manufacturing.”