"When a mining excavator or mining truck breaks down, support and speed of response is critical - every hour of downtime costs money," says Stuart Goates, General Manager of the Liebherr-Components product segment in Australia. To this end, Liebherr offers a unique service: replacement components for non-Liebherr mining excavators and mining haul trucks. These include travel and wheel drives, slewing bearings or hydraulic cylinders for Hitachi and Caterpillar machines. Liebherr's replacement components are 1:1 compatible and ready-to-use. Stuart Goates explains how it all works in an interview.

Mr. Goates, Liebherr offers Hitachi and CAT owners and operators a high-quality Liebherr manufactured product range and service at competitive prices that only an OE solution provider, such as Liebherr, can offer. Would you please tell us more about this business field Liebherr indulges in?

Stuart Goates: Yes, we do indeed offer a genuine alternative to OEMs. Liebherr is generally known in the mining market as a high-quality manufacturer of mining equipment and components. However, what is less well-known is that we also supply replacement components for models by other manufacturers. We do not only apply the same quality manufacturing standards when producing these, but also improve all components wherever possible based on our extensive experience in the field. This means we make them more durable and robust, because when it comes to mine operators, the running CAPEX costs in a 24/7 operation are what count most. Our aim is to reduce costs and to extend the service life of the components. At the same time, we offer the integration of new technologies that are not even part of the original product, such as wear measurement via remote diagnosis in slewing bearings. However, it is always important for us to ensure that our components remain 1:1 interchangeable, so that the customer can install the replacement component without any fuss.

The second important point is the high availability of our products. Most of them are available from stock in the key markets, like Australia, Indonesia, USA and Canada. Just this weekend we’ve had an urgent request from a customer for a travel drive to be replaced in a Hitachi EX3600 mining excavator. Our team in the warehouse was able to collect a drive from stock in less than two hours after the first call. When there is an emergency, everyone at Liebherr holds together.

You’ve mentioned that you ensure the highest quality of the components. How do you do that?

Liebherr has been developing and producing slewing bearings, travel and wheel drives at its own production facility in Biberach (Germany) since the 1950s. We also produce hydraulic cylinders at our Liebherr facility in Kirchdorf (Germany). And we know the high demands placed on components in mining operations from the experience with own Liebherr-own mining machines, which allows us to contribute our outstanding application know-how to the components of other manufacturers. At our own testing facilities, for example, we thoroughly examine everything, from endurance to load tests all the way to material breakage and brake tests. Our very high level of vertical integration enables us to gain an in-depth understanding of every detail. This allows us to take a targeted look at the components and maximise their performance as well as service life even through seemingly minor adjustments.

What exactly are the technical improvements compared to the original OEM parts, for example in wheel drives for mining trucks or travel drives for mining excavators?

In wheel drives for mining trucks, such as CAT 777 or CAT 793, we can achieve an increase in load capacity of around 28 percent by optimising the structure of the wheel hub. By replacing bearing types and configurations in individual planetary stages, we were also able to increase the service life by around a third. Further improvements can be found in the brake systems, among other things. More durable materials and a modified sealing system also contribute to a longer service life but still with a fully 1:1 interchangeable drive.

The situation is very similar for travel drives used in mining excavators, e.g. by Hitachi. Here, particular attention has been paid to high-quality materials, which increase the durability of the gearing and bearings by more than a third. Furthermore, Liebherr represents the highest quality in manufacturing and assembly processes. Additionally, decades of application knowledge in the mining sector come into play, allowing Liebherr to excel as both an OEM and a component supplier. State-of-the-art development methods, such as FE calculations are also used for aftermarket-products.

You have also mentioned that there are additional technical innovations that can be integrated into the slewing bearings. What are they?

We are taking one step further in the improvement of slewing bearings: We utilise greater hardening depths in the raceways, improve the cage design and modify roller sizes to better absorb axial and radial forces, as well as load peaks. Moreover, we pay more attention to service. For example, larger grease ports enable an easier and, therefore, better flow.

Another real game changer our smart bearing technology, which is an integrated digital wear measurement option, the so-called BCM (bearing clearance monitoring system). This new technology ensures greater safety, as it allows the slewing bearings of mining excavators to be monitored from a safe distance using a mobile app. This means that manual measurement in the danger zone is no longer necessary, which significantly improves personal safety and data quality. At the same time, digital monitoring reduces downtime and maintenance costs. This system is not included in the original OEM components, but our replacement bearings are supplied with the necessary sensors holes and are available for many Hitachi and CAT models.

What about the interchangeability of the components? Can you guarantee full compatibility? This is particularly important for the operators of the machines.

The guiding principle for all our replacement components is the "1:1 interchangeability". This means that all components are compatible with the original OEM components, guaranteeing the same, if not even higher performance, as well as the same fitting connections, etc. This is very important for operators, as it is the only way to ensure that the components can be quickly replaced in the event of an urgent replacement, so they must be “plug and play”.

We offer replacement components for mining excavators by Hitachi and CAT in the 100t to 800t range and for mining trucks by CAT in the 100t to 250t range. On top of that, our global sales and service network guarantees immediate availability of components for all common models. So, give it a go on your own!