Liebherr unveils R922 crawler excavator for emerging markets

Liebherr has unveiled the first in a 20-tonne to 25-tonne series of crawler excavator unveiled at Bauma 2016 and optimised for emerging markets with lower emissions regulations, while still meeting European production standards.

The first R922 crawler excavator, the mid-sized unit in the series alongside the R920 and R924 models, was built by Liebherr Machinery Dalian and has been working for the Xi’an Tianyi Earth-moving since August 2016.

On the job site, the machine’s main tasks are excavating soil from the bottom of the drained Meibei Lake as part of a redevelopment project and then loading the trucks removing the wet material.

After just four months, having already undertaken more than 700 hours of operation, the excavator impressed its new owner with high operating speed, low fuel consumption and high uptime.

With a 5.7m boom, a 2.9m stick, a 1.1m3 backhoe bucket, the R922 crawler excavator is driven by 110kW/150HP Cummins engine with a fuel consumption rate of only 13 litres per hour, which coupled with the largest fuel tank available in this size class increases its uptime.

This performance-focused concept makes the machines a cost-effective workhorse, and it has been in operation on the construction site for up to 70 hours a week in 10 to 12 hour shifts, loading more than 200 trucks a day.

Another factor improving productivity is maintenance, with all machines in the series benefitting from a revised and simplified maintenance concept engineered to increase machine availability.

The batteries, all filters and most centralised lubrication points are accessible from ground level, ensuring that daily maintenance and checks can be quickly and easily performed.

To reduce the frequency of maintenance interventions, the hydraulic oil only needs to be serviced every 3,000 hours, and the engine oil only every 500 hours.