MSG puts Liebherr’s new MK 120-5.1E through its first nine months

A compact five-axle for installation work

Liebherr’s Ehingen plant began deliveries of the MK 120-5.1E last autumn. MSG Krandienst GmbH of Kehl in Baden-Württemberg secured one of the earliest units and put it into service in September, replacing an MK 110 that had worked the fleet reliably for many years.

Managing director Björn Jatz had been waiting for a machine of exactly this description. “I’d been eagerly awaiting the launch of a compact, five-axle mobile construction crane with these performance specifications,” he says. MSG already ran the MK 63, MK 80 and MK 88, and uses the newcomer mainly where reach is the deciding factor: air-conditioning units, ventilation systems, roof insulation and steel erection.

Trapezoidal sheeting in the Black Forest

The crane’s current assignment at Lenzkirch, a small town in the Black Forest, is routine work of that kind. Operator Kevin Meier is placing trapezoidal sheets on the roof structure of a new steel-framed building, lifting them from the lorry in batches at around 2.3 tonnes gross and setting them down on the hall roof. Radii on the job run out to 48 metres. Meier raises the crane cab a few metres to keep both the load and the fitters in view throughout – “very clear, very safe” is his summary.

What he singles out is the new three-stage outrigger system. At Lenzkirch there was room to extend everything fully, but he has worked sites where the supports had to go out asymmetrically; up to three different extension lengths are possible for the sliding beams. “It makes setting up the crane in confined spaces much easier and has already proved extremely helpful on several occasions,” he says.

Ballast that stays with the crane

The MK 120-5.1 carries most of its counterweight – 4.8 tonnes – as standard, with an additional three-tonne package available to lift performance further. “With full ballast and a reach of 52 metres, I can even lift over two tonnes with the crane,” Meier notes.

“The well-balanced counterweight concept – which, incidentally, I consider superior to that of the competition – combined with the lifting capacity and reach, simply makes the MK 120-5.1 a superb crane and, for me, was a decisive factor in my decision to purchase it, alongside the professional service provided by Liebherr Ehingen. For us as operators, it is a very cost-efficient machine.”

— Björn Jatz, managing director, MSG Krandienst GmbH

MSG Krandienst is based at Kehl on the Upper Rhine, a short distance from Strasbourg, and employs 175 people together with its French subsidiary MSG Levage sarl. Its fleet of 55 mobile cranes includes four large machines of the LTM 1650-8.1 and LTM 1750-9.1 types, and around 70 per cent of the equipment is Liebherr. Alongside crane hire the company is active in project logistics. Jatz joined in 2004 and has led the business for the past ten years.

Source: Liebherr — Photos: Liebherr