The bridge site is Moudon in western Switzerland was a real challenge – extremely restricted space, protected trees and a heavy bridge which had to be positioned over a river with a 180 degree slewing process by the crane with a large radius and therefore also a large suspended ballast radius. The demanding requirements on site therefore created perfect conditions for a stiff practical test for the first use of the new V-frame on the LR 11000. “Without the hydraulically adjustable ballast radius, hoisting the bridge would have been significantly more expensive,” is how Managing Director and crane enthusiast Michael Egger explains the solution he provided for this job. “Firstly, it would have required much more expensive work on the embankment to get closer to the abutments with a crawler crane. And then we would also have required a much longer crane track to complete the bridge immediately in front of the abutment.”

Michael Egger has long been convinced by the benefits of a hydraulically adjustable folding frame for the suspended ballast. That is why he discussed this solution when he ordered his LR 11000 with Liebherr at the start of 2017. The design of the V-frame for the LR 1800-1.0 was in full flow at that time and Liebherr unveiled it at the Customer Days in 2018. As a result of Egger’s request, the decision was made to design a similar system for the 1000-tonne crane. Clemens Norz, Designer in the Crawler Cranes department at Liebherr, remembers it well: “Mr Egger had a very clear idea of what he wanted and we were then able to make even the details into reality. The important things for him were a large adjustment range for the ballast radius and the ability to retrofit it to his LR 11000, in other words, a crane we have had in our range for several years. That was a challenge for us. The suspended ballast radius had to be significantly reduced to hold the ballasted pallet without a load on the hook in the air. On the other hand, the maximum ballast radius of 30 metres had to be achieved so that the entire lifting capacity of the crane can be used. The V-frame on the LR 11000 has two joints to achieve this enormous adjustment range from 13 to 30 metres.”

Another clever feature on Egger’s crawler crane ensured that the job on the bridge site in Moudon was completed quickly – the VarioTray detachable ballast system. The facility to simply unbolt the central section of the suspended ballast means that there is no need for a mobile crane to stack and destack the ballast slabs. “Because of the situation on the site, we would have needed a large crane for this job – we would have lost an enormous amount of time and required a great deal of space,” says Egger. “In most cases, our LR 11000 can position the derrick ballast pallet, or at least the outer section, itself since the central section of the ballast remains on the crane and therefore only around 300 to 350 tonnes have to be moved.”

Just a few weeks later, the V-frame was able to show its strengths yet again when it hoisted a 550 tonne ship onto the banks of the River Rhine in Basel on the same crawler crane. The adjustable ballast system was used for this job because there were buildings and obstacles in the way of the derrick ballast during the slewing process.

"Gannet", a 42 metre lightship will be used as an event location for up to 300 people in an event and culture park in the port district of Basel. Before its decommissioning in 2010 it showed seafarers the way for around 70 years near South Rock in Ireland. In spring it was towed over the English Channel to the River Rhine via Rotterdam. The light tower had to be dismantled so that it would pass under bridges. Once it arrived at its new location, the light tower was reinstalled on the ship to be used as a radio transmitter.