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Liebherr’s integrated undercarriage engineering is helping its ultra-class excavators withstand abrasive Australian conditions by extending the lifecycle of components.
Bearing the weight of machines that can be hundreds of tonnes is no easy feat, especially when traversing the challenging terrain of Australian mine sites.
Not only does it underpin the machine, but it is also in direct contact with the mining environment as the excavator digs, clears land, and moves mined minerals.
This is why heavy equipment manufacturer Liebherr engineers its undercarriages for each specific model, with components designed and validated to work together as an integrated system that ensures the correct fit, compatibility, and performance for the demands of the customer’s application.
Liebherr’s product specialist Julien Thery said this ensures machine stability and optimal kinematic performance throughout the track components’ life.
“This integrated approach allows loads to be distributed more evenly throughout the undercarriage. As a result, component life can be extended, and long-term performance becomes more reliable,” he said.
To carry out this process, information is paramount.
Liebherr’s engineers maintain close relationships with regional sales and service centres across its global network, and especially with customers, which gives them visibility into how these machines and components perform under real operating conditions.
These relationships are enhanced by Liebherr’s site intelligence, field inspections, customer feedback, and operational data.
A direct outcome of this preparedness is the R 9600 track chain system, one that incorporates a patented design optimising the roller-to-track interface by distributing loads more evenly across the contact surfaces.
Thery said the design lowers contact stress, limits uneven wear and helps extend component service life.
“The development process drew on components returned from the field, 3D scanning, destructive and non-destructive testing, and theoretical correlation,” he said.
“These findings were used to identify potential design improvements and carry out calculations aimed at reducing contact stress within the roller-to-track interface.”
The system’s profile also helps prevent edge loading, in which forces become concentrated on one side of a component rather than being distributed across the full contact surface.
Reducing this loading can limit uneven wear and fatigue contact issues while supporting more consistent performance.
To demonstrate this level of engineering, an open-cut coal mine in New South Wales presented a fitting proving ground, with conditions Thery said were “particularly demanding” for the undercarriage, including challenging and abrasive terrain consisting of blasted rock, coarse gravel, and sandy topsoil.
Due to the nature of the site, Thery said there was increased interaction across several undercarriage wear interfaces.
This included track chain articulation and pins, sprocket and track pad drive lug engagement, chain and roller contact, and idler and chain contact. Turning manoeuvres also increased lateral loading on the undercarriage.
Sand and fine particles were also becoming entrained within exposed track-component contact interfaces, acting as an abrasive medium and increasing material loss.
Combined with extended travel, which increases cumulative articulation cycles and sliding contact distance, those conditions can easily accelerate undercarriage wear and potentially reduce component life.
Tackling that challenge were the originally fitted track chains on the R 9600 excavator which delivered a strong result, reaching overhaul after 32,744 machine hours, including 3202 travel hours and a 9.8 per cent travel ratio.
This meant the excavator spent almost one in every 10 operating hours travelling, increasing the cumulative movement and contact across its undercarriage wear interfaces.
The R 9600’s sprockets achieved the same service life as the track chains, with most other track-wear components exceeding their initial life-cycle cost expectations.
At the same mine, also originally fitted track chains on a Liebherr R 9800 achieved 33,594 operating hours before overhaul. This included 2972 travel hours and an 8.8 per cent travel ratio under the mine’s abrasive operating conditions.
Thery said the sprockets also achieved the same service life as the track chains, while most other track-wear components exceeded their initial life-cycle cost expectations.
Together, the two machines accumulated 66,338 operating hours and 6174 travel hours on their original track chains before overhaul.
For mine operators, these results place greater emphasis on the undercarriage’s impact on maintenance demand, machine availability and total cost of ownership.
“This provides greater flexibility to coordinate replacement with major shutdowns and, depending on the machine’s remaining service life and maintenance schedule, may eliminate the need for a separate undercarriage replacement,” Thery said.
This feature appeared in the October 2026 edition of Australian Mining.