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Link Belt is to launch a new 90 tonne Rough Terrain crane later this week – the 100RT.
The new crane enters a market which has grown in potential and is now hotly contested by relatively new products from Tadano, Grove Terex and more recently Liebherr. The crane will feature a 47.2 metre full power, topped by a 17.7 metre bi fold swingaway extension which incorporates a new easy erecting system, and offsets by two, 15, 30 or 45 degrees. A 4.9 metre lattice insert can be added to the extension to provide a maximum tip height of 72 metres.
The new crane has an overall travel width of just over 3.2 metres wide, and an overall length of just over 15.3 metres. Overall height is 3.91 metres. The crane has an overall weight of 55 tonnes, including its removeable counterweight of 13 tonnes. Power comes from a tier 4 final Cummins diesel, which is said to beet European Stage V emissions. It includes a diesel particulate filter and uses Diesel Emission Fluid (Adblue).
The cab is the naturally the company’s latest design, with a new wider, more comfortable seat, up to 20 degrees of tilt and the Link-Belt Pulse 2.0 load moment and information system with a 10 inch screen, and wifi connection for remote software updates. The system incorporates V-Calc set up allowing variable outrigger set up and automatic monitoring. We do not yet have load charts for the new model, but given its overall weight, and counterweight we would expect them to be strong.
The crane will be officially launched at the company's Crane Fest event this week, with shipments due to begin during the first quarter of next year.
Given the limited information that we have gleaned this looks like it could be a very good machine, on the surface it looks as though it will go head to head with the new Liebherr, Grove, Tadano and Terex. On the surface the new model looks like a ‘me too’ product in that while the boom is very slightly longer than the others at 47.2 compared to 47 metres, it is almost two tonnes heavier, longer and higher. This may well be offset by a better load chart of course?
Link-Belt builds a nice crane, but whether this product will take market share from Tadano and Grove or stop Liebherr’s push into the market remains to be seen.
