New Bradken Undercarriage Offering for Liebherr R996B

Bradken now provides mining operations with a low risk option to reduce undercarriage cost of ownership by using a Bradken undercarriage solution for Liebherr’s ultra-class machines.

Our reputation for producing high-quality and innovative products results from an intrinsic understanding of our customers’ operating conditions, a willingness to collaborate and customise, supported by a long-standing track record of providing superior performance wear products.

We are one of the largest manufacturers of undercarriages for mining machines over 250T. Over the past 30 years, Bradken has manufactured and supplied well over 200,000 crawler shoes for mining customers worldwide. For much of this time, Bradken was the supplier of choice for crawler shoes to the majority of mining OEMs worldwide.

During this time, Bradken was the major supplier of tracks and tumblers for Liebherr’s largest mining excavators. We collaborated closely with the OEM on the R996B and R9800 undercarriage design, re-engineering the track and tumbler and developed world-leading production standards to bring about significant improvements on track performance. By focusing on Liebherr’s undercarriage requirements and by working with them to understand their challenges over the track life cycle, we were able to offer effective product solutions that optimise performance and reduce unscheduled downtime, with minimal maintenance required between changeouts. Some competitors have tried to copy Bradken designs but have failed to replicate the reliability made possible by Bradken’s manufacturing excellence.

Bradken’s collaboration with Liebherr redefined the standard for undercarriage performance on ultra class mining machines. We acknowledge our successes and long history with Liebherr, however the time came to respond to repeated enquiries from our end user customers, who were asking us to expand our Bradken branded undercarriage product range – which is what we have undertaken this year. We can now offer a high-quality, proven undercarriage solution to suit the R996B and supply direct to end-users (or via HCM’s global dealer network). First orders have already been taken and, this quarter we installed the first tracks. Our operations and supply team are busy making parts to meet the expected high market demand for the Bradken product.

A major mining company was very interested in moving to the Bradken undercarriage and wanted the assurance our crawler shoes were of the same high standard that they were sourcing from the OEM. So we commissioned independent destructive testing of a crawler shoe.

After testing was completed, the independent Examiner, noted, ‘the increased core hardness and increased depth of induction hardening is considered a significant improvement over previous 996 trackpads tested and is expected to provide improved service performance’ compared to other competitors’ offerings tested in the same laboratory.

We have more than 30 years of experience providing innovative undercarriage solutions across the globe. Our ability to innovate, design and manufacture quality products that improve customers’ service performance has been proven once again, with our recent release of the new undercarriage solution for the Liebherr R996B.

* Report available upon request