Does anybody have any experience with these loaders. I'm looking at a 631 series loader. I'm not sure of the year or model. I've heard they have mercedes diesels in them and that they may have some torque converter issues. I'm not sure my source may be right or not. the machine looks like it's in good condition for its vintage ( i assume its in the early to mid eighties). Its a rear engine machine which appeals to me but i'm unsure on any mechanical issuses common to the brand or even parts avaliabiliyt. surely someone has exp. with these machines. I'll get pics tommorow along with some more info. thanks. ~zach~
631 HI Zach, I operated a 631 & 741 in the early 90s,& a newer 732 Dozer in the late 90s. They do have a Merc diesel (V8?) in them,& I found it to be a good machine...powerful in pushing trees over & the 4:1 was a crushing monster! Liebherr are popular in Europe,& have been making Cranes,Dozers,Shovels for years. I found a few things irritated me: some models had a stupid speed selector system,& a lot of the bolts are HEX HEAD type.Most of the machines I worked all had several minor oil leaks,but all were old & well worked. Hope that helps. Jim
I have a 92 621 that i have had a for about a year. This is what i know about them... Stay away from the ones with mercedes diesels, find one another year or two newer with the liebherr diesel. It supposedly has all the improvements to it mercedes wouldn't do for liebherr. Also make sure clips and bearings in the final drives have been maintained properly. I want to say every 1000 hrs on that. The only other thing is i was told was to avoid the 631 all together and to find a 621. On that note, i had great luck with my machine, it gets used prob 20 hrs a week on average and has no real problems at all. Its got 13800 hrs with original motor(new turbo) and runs great. No blowby or oil consumption. Hope this helps Brian
thanks a bunch guys. i'm thinking this loader might be ok for farm use since it prolly will never see much more use than an hour or two a week. I'm still awiting for a call back and a chance to hear her run. any idea on parts availablity?
Well...I have no experience with their track loaders but when we had a Liebherr excavator break its tracks, there was no dealer here in New England so the parts had to come in from Germany and that took several days.
Liebherr Try tracking down any of their mining shovels...if you find any 984 or similar in the mines,chances are there will be parts/field service. Still a few working in Aussie mining projects. Jim
6&7 Series Scans Just a couple of minor leaflets on the Liebherr Dozer/Crawler Loader range.
631 Photos 631 working in 48 Degree heat in outback Australia...1995.
bigblueox, Try to avoid the earlier machines if you can (Mercedes powered examples) as parts are getting a bit thin on the ground for them. The biggest operating expense for these machines is travel motors & pumps. Hydraulics are made by Linde in the older machines and are EXPENSIVE. The later models are powered by Liebherrs own engine and they tend to favor Rexroth hydraulics which are easier to repair & set up as well as being cheaper. The Liebherr diesel motors are very well built - low internal stress - and pretty good on fuel consuption. Later machines - 2000 and on - are particularly nice to operate
we have a 621 with 10,000 hours on her (the one in my avatar)...had a complete engine rebuild and new undercarriage 3 years ago...the machine has decent power but that is the least of your concerns. I don't like the controls, the two joystick controls are very unresponsive, we had troubles sometimes where the loader refuses to work. Sometimes this is due to a blown fuse, sometimes you have to let it run for 20 minutes before you can move the damn thing. Overall i am just not a fan of the older liehberrs, maybe the new ones are nicer...but ours sure sounds nice
From past expience with their excavators, there isn't a whole lot of dealers around the east coast, being a european machine and all. Besides that, i'd say,...RUN! RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN!!! ........Althoug, they were rather old, im talkin' like the sixties or seventies. Mabey the more recent machines aren't that bad. And who knows, they could make a mean track loader for all i know.
Big Jake, Liebherr excavators (4 series and higher) are pretty sound, reliable machines. Very strong, over-engineered undercarriage and much stronger drive motors & finals than Komatsu/Daewoo/Hyundai/Kobelco. The problem as you correctly state is ease of getting service & parts when you need them. In Europe its no problem as they're quite popular (for the above reasons). In Australia they're pretty popular in the mines so backup must be good there too.
I don't know about other deere dealers but if you have to hit them up. Mine can atleast look them up on the computer and get you going in the right direction if they can't get the parts.
Check with your local John Deere dealer for Liebherr parts. Liebherr makes the new larger JD dozers. That is where I get my parts for my mid 80's PR751 dozer with a Cummins engine. Cat D-8 undercarraige components & blade bits makes life easy. I think the only items that I have really had to purchase from the dealer were some special hydraulic filters. When I need hoses, I get them custom built. That is cheaper that going through the dealer although 6 wire hose is harder to find. Major parts like bushings are either in stock in Newport News, VA or else they come from Germany in a couple of days. I like my machine but the 20 gal/hr fuel rate sucks at todays fuel prices. Efficiency is everything so this machine actually saves a lot of money when compared to most anything else.
well turns out i thought the machine had been sold. so i didn't get a chance to get any pics but then i'm talking to by boss this weekend and hes telling me how his wife is pissed when she finds a " damn bulldozer "hidden amongst a path of destruction. long story short. he bought the machine. o well any how seems like a good machine nice and tight. good tracks prolly 70% or better no major leaks runs good motor sounds good no blow by supposedly dosen't burn oil. 4 way bucket cab and heat. all in all it seems like a really nice machine. it's a 95 model with about 7k hours. best of all the company he bought it from had contacts with a dealer in manassas about 45 min away. anyway now for the good part the pics. and vid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApgN_ZqNt0o
looks just like ours...have you gotten a chance to run it yet?...How the response from the joysticks?
some more pics
i played around a little bit. the controls are odd! going forward they seem just like our tak 150 rtl but in reverse the are completley opposite. is your machine like that? the response is good. i like the dutch door design, i've never seen anything quite like it. dirt digger- have you had any problems with your machine? what year is it? what motor?
yea the controls are "reversed" or they are normal and our takeuchi is is reversed...we have a 130. makes it fun when both machines are on the same job, haha...We just had the U/C rebuilt 3 years ago for $22K. It has the Mercedes in it with 10,000 hours, and so far knock on wood...no real problems in the last 5 years i have been with the company. Like i said, my gripe with the machine is the controls...i hate them...the machine seems to be a dog, it is underpowered i think. I makes good for just moving dirt all day but personally i feel that any precision work is better handled by our 943 with twin stick bucket controls and foot steer. Along with the fact that the machines rattle like no other, you work a 10 hour day in it and you will feel it until the next morning. edit:...now that i think about it, we blew the main hydraulic line this summer, the 2" one way deep in the belly of the machine. The cab is fairly simple to tilt up (assuming you have the jack option in yours and don't need a loader to do it...like the pictures in the manual show) but once you have the cab tilted its a maze of snakes in there and trying to get the hose off really was no fun
thanks for the 411. hopefully i'll get more seat time on it. i'm suprised you like the cat controls better. i was never fond of them. although the most comfortable loader i've been on is a 963c.
Liebherr 631s are nice,smooth ,efficient, easy operating machines!..just get an operators manual and follow it...Lindee hydraulic pumps and motor parts are Big Bucks!..Hopefully you can find someone to repair them for you and recondition some parts....The mercedes V6s are great and can last forever, I usually only run them half throttle with pleny of power..No turbos!..The problem is nobody is familiar with working on them except me!
Sounds like you have low servo pressure for the controls....Have you ever replaced your small servo filter?....Book says every 500hrs. but I think we can stretch it to 1000....If that doesnt do it there is a test station right there on the side to hook up a guage and check it.....
that dam thing has low pressure everything it seems...its got 11,000 hours on her and we are trying to sell it...what to buy it?
What's wrong with you people!!??:Banghead Everyone knows that you can't push trees over with a trackloader Right Deas?
I am sticking with the 631s....Is that the one that was on ebay and machinery trader awhile back?....maybe the drive motors are loosing some pressure....I may be looking for another 631B or C
Liebherr 631 weighs 39,500lbs...with 22inch agressive grousers they rigth over!!!!!!!!!!!!1
i dont know if it was on Ebay or not...it was in Lancaster Farmer a few weeks ago
two inexpensive things to check first for poor control/power. Travel joystick can be adjusted to ensure servo plungers depress fully, lift off rubber boot and you will see locking ring above plunger disc, the plunger discs get worn where it strikes plungers,loosen the lock ring and srew down he striker ring till its a few thou off the plungers then secure lock ring Poor overall performance is usually down to the load limit valve being out of adjustment, its located between the injection pump linkage and the throttle cable, normally the balljoints/linkages wear and this has big effect on drive performance. you need a liebherr or Deere engineer to set this up.
Deere's about to break out of the marketing agreement for track loaders -- don't know how similar they'll end up being, but Liebherr will only supply large dozers now: http://www.deere.com/en_US/cfd/construction/deere_const/newsroom/2008/081117_liebherr.html
I saw that Liebherr is bringing their D9 size PR764 dozer to the US. I wonder if we will be seeing it as the John Deere 1150J? As I understand, the PR764 shares many components with the 950J and 1050J. It seems it would be a natural to extend the range.
hey just wondering if you know the cab lift procedure for a liebherr 631b. don't have a manual but do have cab jack.
First, you will have to unbolt the hold down fasteners for the cab. On my 751, there are 3 per side located at the front base of the ROPS unit. Look to see where the cab will pivot from and it should be fairly obvious what to remove. Once those bolts are out, jack up the cab, release the safety support bar and lock it into position before releasing pressure off of the hydraulic jack system. There is a small lever just below and to the left of the jack handle holder on the cab jack. This piece is the control valve for the jack and it needs to be set to the lift position to get the jack to hold pressure. The jack gets its oil from the hydraulic reservoir, so as long as the reservoir has oil, the hyd jack should work once the valve is set to the right position. On my machine, the control valve is finicky and needs to be at just the right spot to hold pressure. Once it is set correctly, it's just a matter of a lot of pump action to get the cab up high enough to engage the safety bar into its holder.
Can I add that when you let the cab down again, make sure the throttle and stop levers are centred. You'll break them off if not....
They (Liebherr) introduced it at Mine Expo. Deere will not carry it.
Remove four bolts,two either side, one inside of cab on floor under floor mat and one located on cab mount plate on outside, to get cab right up you probably have to remove the silencer/muffler,on some models you have to remove the servo safety lever also and four in one bucket pedal if fitted
yea you have to remove the 4 bolts, air cleaner, and muffler...ALSO DON'T FORGET TO REMOVE THE "SAFETY" LEVER BELOW THE DRIVE CONTROL...if you start to put the cab up without taking that off it will snap it off for you then if you are looking at the rear of the machine there should be a jack in the left engine bay door (the drive stick part of the machine)...stick the rod in and start jacking the cab back...takes forever...and you also have to pump the jack to lower the thing too word of advice...start the 4 bolts in the cab before you lower it all the way down...if you set it all the way down the holes don't line up, so if you start them before you lower it you have more wiggle room
thanks for the fast reply. I unbolted the cab, began to jack only to have it raise only a half of an inch. the jack seems to be weak and feels as if its leaking by. a work in progress!
dirt digger you are and engineer you are the last person who should be complaining about complicated machines and secondly jst because it doesnt say case on it doesnt mean it isnt good!!!