Liebherr, a leading manufacturer of construction machinery, recently exhibited its new a crawler excavator specially designed for selective demolition.

The R 974 C VH-HD crane, like all other crawler excavators in the C series, is driven by a new-generation Liebherr diesel engine that complies with the Stage IIIa / Tier 3 exhaust directive.

The R 974 C VH-HD uses an 8-cylinder V engine with a performance of 400 kW / 543 PS at 1800 min rpm. The model at the Intermat is equipped with a CU2000 concrete cutter from Arden Equipment.

The 131-tonne demolition excavator has a reach height of 41 metres with its special attachment. The standard working equipment includes a 17 metre demolition boom, a 2.7 metre intermediate boom and a 13.5 metre demolition arm. Optional equipment includes a 13 metre demolition boom and a 4 metre extension, thus increasing the range of possible uses.

To protect the attachments, the R 974 C VH-HD has a robust piston rod guard as standard on the bucket cylinder and protected quick-change couplings. Other components such as protected additional floodlights on the equipment or a guard for the grease tank of the central lubrication system are available.

For demolition work, the R 974 C VH-HD is equipped with a three-section ballast weight amounting to 25 tonnes (10 t + 9 t + 6 t). The 9-tonne and 6-tonne weights can be removed for easier transport to the site. Hydraulically lowered ballast weights are also optionally available.

The hydraulically adjustable VH-HD undercarriage can be retracted to a width of 4350 mm for transport. When ex-tended to the full 5650 mm on the site, the undercarriage provides excellent stability.

The special cab of the new demolition excavator, which can be tilted upwards by up to 30 degrees, offers an excellent view of the working area. This is also due to the extremely narrow pillars and the fact that the wiper motor is located at the bottom of the front windscreen.

Naturally, the front and roof wind-screens are made of triple compound safety glass. In addition, the cab is equipped with a single-section FOPS stone impact guard mounted directly on the tilting device for the safety of the driver.

Like all Liebherr demolition excavators, the R 974 C VH-HD has a 360-degree action radius which can be used to the full extent without compromising stability.

The standard equipment on all Liebherr C-series demolition excavators includes Liebherr Tool Control for convenient changeover of hydraulic tools, as well as the new Liebherr Demolition Control System (LDC).

This active safety feature, ergonomically sited within the driver's field of view, provides real-time information about the position of the tool and the machine's angle of inclination. LDC automatically activates the electronic reach limitation if a critical value is exceeded.

This means that when maximum reach is achieved, no movements of the attachment are permitted that could reduce the excavator's stability.

The demolition equipment of the R 974 C VH-HD can be mechanically replaced with digging equipment. To simplify the changing of equipment, the excavator has quick-change couplings at the attachment connections. The new steel construction concept of the swivel arms also facilitates the change of equipment. – TradeArabia News Service