Liebherr digs, loads and dozes at Welton
A quarry and recycling company has taken its fleet of Liebherr equipment to seven with a major investment in new excavators and wheeled loaders.
The four-machine package for Welton Aggregates was made up of R 945 and R 938 excavators and a pair of XPower wheeled loaders to work at its Welton le Marsh and Hibaldstow quarries in Lincolnshire. Both sites quarry virgin aggregates and produce a range of recycled products and soils.
The wheeled loaders – L 566 and L 576 XPower models – and the 40-tonne R 938 are based at the huge Welton site where the excavator spends its shifts either on chalk extraction or on duties in the recycling yard. Forty miles away at the Hibaldstow hard blue limestone quarry, the R 945 has become Welton’s new frontline excavator which, with an operating weight of just over 45 tonnes, is now the company’s biggest digger.
The R 938 is one of 10 machines that make up Liebherr’s Generation 8 tracked range, beginning with the recently introduced R 915 Compact and goes through to the R 945 flagship model. With an operating weight between 37-40 tonnes, the 938 is powered by a 299hp, 8-litre Liebherr diesel. Operator George Riggall reckons the manufacturer got it spot-on with the combination of power and fuel economy (the R 938 goes through just 19.67 litres an hour). ‘It has no issues in working in some of the heavier material we have on site. Whether it’s clay or rubble, it copes easily with anything we put it to. I’m really happy with the way this Liebherr has been performing for us.’
Elsewhere on the site, the L 566 XPower loader is employed on duties such as maintaining the stockpile, feeding the wash plant and remove the piles of screened soils adjacent to the crushing operation. Carrying a 4.1m3 general purpose bucket, the loader has the same D944 engine as the R 938 excavator but producing a slightly lower 249hp. Mated to Liebherr’s hydrostatic transmission, it provides class-leading pushing power to ensure a full bucket on each pass.
Meanwhile, the larger L 576 XPower has taken up frontline duties for truck loading on the virgin aggregates section of the site. With a larger 5.2m3 bucket, it will load each of the company’s large fleet of eight-wheelers in just two passes.
Over at Hibaldstow, the Liebherr R 945 uses an identical eight-litre, 299hp powerplant as that in the R 938 but with slight increases in torque and break-out forces. Fitted with a standard 6.45-metre mono boom and 2.9-metre stick, it is responsible for excavating the layers of limestone. Once soils have been removed from the surface, shallow layers of material with a yellow limestone uppermost are revealed. While those are relatively easy to remove, the underlying material is a little more stubborn and requires a hydraulic hammer to break out layers of hard blue limestone into suitably sized pieces which are fed into the crusher. Once each area is broken up, a heavy-duty rock bucket is attached to load the 25-tonne capacity dump truck that ferries the material to the stockpiling area.
The Liebherr line-up
The latest deal continues a five-year relationship with Liebherr that began five years ago with the arrival of a Generation 6 PR 736 dozer. While it doesn’t run on a daily basis, its reliability and productivity on both in-house and external jobs makes it a valuable part of the fleet.
The PR 736 was joined a year later by an R 922 excavator to handle material around the Welton le Marsh wash plant. A batching plant completes the Welton Liebherr line-up.
‘Whether it’s clay or rubble, the Liebherr easily copes with anything we put it to' - George Riggall, Operator
Associated Businesses
