[599gto]

Originally Posted by D33-PAC

Ahh. That could be the reason why I rarely ever see Liebherr trucks in a mine. Excellent point on the consumables. Just wondering, Besides tires, what else could be consumed easily over a period of time ? It's not like the chassis breaks every 3 years right so I wonder what other things could possibly be needing change.

I am not very sure of the consumables that go into these dump trucks, but we own a number of earth moving equipment like hydraulic excavators, articulated wheeled loaders, backhoe loaders and pavers and dozers.

They regularly need a supply of air filters, oil filters, fuel filters, hydraulic oil filters, hydraulic oil, engine oil, gear oil, regular greasing, oil seals, hoses, bearings at times, not to forget the fuel pump going bust every now and then, owing to varied fuel quality(mostly very bad). Also excavators on tracks need a new carriage(lower chassis of the machine) roughly over a 3-4 year period (typically operated in 2 shifts of 8 hrs each) when being used in low traction surfaces. I guess the list for these dump trucks will somewhat be similar.

Having owned machines from Caterpillar(320D excavator, 424B backhoe loader, HM 2021 articulated loader), Komatsu(multiple PC200 excavators), JCB(3D and 3DX backhoe loaders, 430 and 432Z articulated loaders, vibratory road roller), Hitachi(110 series excavator), I can confidently say that Caterpillar machines are the ones to have, though expensive to maintain, but throw anything at them and they won't cringe.
Not a fan of JCB machines, they are not built tough but service network is the best.
Komatsu machines can be termed as best all rounders, not heavy on the pocket and very competitive in the field.
Also, I see a lot of people opting for Volvo equipment in out circle these days, I hear Volvo are good for limestone mining operations, and unlike their passenger cars, Volvo earth movers are great to look at.

Oh and btw, all our machines survive the limestone mining conditions, different machines perform differently in coal or iron ore or sand mining scenarios.

[D33-PAC]

Originally Posted by 599gto

Oh and btw, all our machines survive the limestone mining conditions, different machines perform differently in coal or iron ore or sand mining scenarios.

Nice to hear from someone in a relevant industry. Thanks for your input !

BTW I used to work in the civil field and it seems that you take an abnormal amount of care and respect for your machines.

All across India it is very rare for small size to mid-size contractors or civil works companies to take even regular care. Even in the cities (like Hyderabad) you can see 6x10 tippers being driven around with tires in horrible conditions, and in some cases the chassis suffering from twisting like an old man with a spinal issue !

I guess mining is a different business because all the mines I have visited have a special mechanic and shed dedicated to just the upkeep of the machines, and even these guys aren't your average Joes. Most of them are certified and have had training in proper technical institutes.

[D33-PAC]

Originally Posted by DevilzzzzOwn

Not that I intend to buy it, but what is the cost?

And the eternal Indian question, "Kitna deta hai"?

According to this link, a more or less brand new Caterpillar version of similar payload capacity costs roughly in the USD $2 mill range which means ~10-12 crore.

And since 599GTO here said Cats are the most expensive, my guess is this BEML product should not be more than 15 crores or anything south of 7 crores.

http://www.machinerytrader.com/list/...catid=4&Pref=0

[599gto]

Originally Posted by D33-PAC

Nice to hear from someone in a relevant industry. Thanks for your input !

BTW I used to work in the civil field and it seems that you take an abnormal amount of care and respect for your machines.

All across India it is very rare for small size to mid-size contractors or civil works companies to take even regular care. Even in the cities (like Hyderabad) you can see 6x10 tippers being driven around with tires in horrible conditions, and in some cases the chassis suffering from twisting like an old man with a spinal issue !

I guess mining is a different business because all the mines I have visited have a special mechanic and shed dedicated to just the upkeep of the machines, and even these guys aren't your average Joes. Most of them are certified and have had training in proper technical institutes.

,

My father has been in the limestone mining and crushing industry for a good 30 years now, we have a very well maintained fleet of earth moving equipment and mining tippers(6 wheeled and 10 wheeled variety) albeit in very limited numbers, we make it a point to acquire only the numbers we can afford and manage to maintain, rest are all hired as and when the need arises.

Also, my father has a penchant for all things mechanical, he takes utmost care to maintain every piece of machinery we own, like you mentioned, we have our own in house gang of technicians who are trained(not certified or qualified) to do basic-to-high-level maintenance. Because of this our machines which are often sold with in our circle always fetch better resale value, and literally fly off-shelves whenever we put a fleet or a machine on sale!

We also own a small scale road construction company with limited equipment but they are also very well maintained.

Overall buying these machines is not all that difficult as they give decent returns in the form of work they do, its the maintenance part that still freaks us out!

[drift2race]

This indeed a huge development , mining companies who would have earlier imported such vehicles can now procure an equivalent machine at a much lower price .

Hooray for "Make In India" .

[fiat_tarun]

This is a good achievement for BEML to have launched a 205 T electric drive dumper. I have been to a few coal mines in Dhanbad on official work and have even ridden inside these dumpers These things are huge. I am 5'11" and I was just about the height of the 60 T Dumper's tyre !!

BEML has licensed technology from global players and their Dumpers are quite good. IIRC they have the highest market share in the Dumper market followed by CAT & Komatsu

[gurudutt]

This is a monster from BEML. 46" front disc phew on R57 wheels, when was the last time one saw such figures. Curious if these are for local market or do they export it as well. Definitely looks at par with the international players.

[599gto]

Originally Posted by DevilzzzzOwn

Not that I intend to buy it, but what is the cost?

And the eternal Indian question, "Kitna deta hai"?

No idea about the exact price but the 75T CAT dump trucks cost upwards of 2.5 cr.
About fuel consumption, I think figures are calculated on hourly basis, just like most earth moving equipment, so no kmpl figures here.

Originally Posted by D33-PAC

And since 599GTO here said Cats are the most expensive, my guess is this BEML product should not be more than 15 crores or anything south of 7 cr........

Yes Caterpillar equipment commands a good 5-10% premium across all segments, which is on the verge of reducing albeit slowly because Caterpillar has started assembling its popular machines in India.

[KPS]

Originally Posted by sarathlal

BEML has always been in the front line of building out some of country's first and biggest machines, and here they are with yet another one.

[*]Indigenously designed and developed at Mysuru plant.

If this is indigenously developed, then why is it a Left Hand Drive?

Cheers

KPS

[sarathlal]

Originally Posted by KPS

If this is indigenously developed, then why is it a Left Hand Drive?

Thats a good observation, and these are couple of my thoughts on this.

Could be due to the working environment nature for these kind of machines. They need to work in tandem with multiple heavy duty mammoth machines, and for that uniformity in operation would be a must have.

For such operations, wouldn't the driver position alteration for a few machines alone cause routine procedural issues?

[SnakemanJohny]

We have used slightly smaller BEML dumpers in SAIL steel plants' mines, and they were and still are all Left Hand Drives. The reason is simple, they are as indigenously developed as Anglo-Indians (with absolutely no disrespect to that community, I have many friends and classmates among them - from Calcutta to Australia and UK) ! Engine, drivetrain etc were all imported to begin with, with import substitution slowly taking place, but still not 100% !

It is similar to saying that the original TATA trucks were indigenously developed, but they began life as TATA Mercedes-Benz (TMB).
Take the Czech TATRA trucks, used as missile carriers etc. by the Indian Army. Since the demand is low, there is only an assembly plant here. But if we require more and more, we will probably go into a collaboration, and after that agreement expires, make a few changes, and call it "indigenously developed", but they will probably continue to be LHD.
DRDO particularly is good at this. Not many people know that the first Japanese car manufacturer to collaborate with India is not Suzuki, but Nissan Motors ( for the Patrol/Jonga, and the One-tonner truck) !

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by KPS

If this is indigenously developed, then why is it a Left Hand Drive?

Originally Posted by sarathlal

Thats a good observation, and these are couple of my thoughts on this.

Originally Posted by SnakemanJohny

Engine, drivetrain etc were all imported to begin with, with import substitution slowly taking place, but still not 100%

The actual reason should be what SnakemanJohny mentioned.

BEML - TATRA trucks too had this same configuration initially. I guess later variants had right hand drive configuration.

However, in recently concluded Aero India 2015 was checking out BEML trucks and noticed that they even have their break lights still manufactured in Czech.

[SnakemanJohny]

Brake lights from Czech R ? That is the height of indigenous development !

Though it may offend B'lurians or those from Karnataka, IMHO public sector behemoths like BEML, HAL etc are white elephants kept alive by our defence budgets while the country lacks funds for modernisation of army, navy and the air force. Vehicle Factory Jabbalpur (VHF), which earlier used to make the Jonga, One-tonner and the Shaktiman (MANN) trucks, is another such. Started by the British as the Jabbalpore Guncarriage and Assembly Factory, it now produces 4WD trucks under license from TATA and Ashok Leyland, products inferior to the originals (as claimed by armymen) and no doubt at higher costs, simply to keep the establishment running ! In any other country it would have shut down !!

So are most of the units under the Ordinance Factory Board (OFB), having produced nothing since the INSAS rifle (already obsolete), and now India needs to get infantry weapons from foreign manufacturers, but NO FUNDS ! So for artillery -- DRDO having spent quite a packet to 'copy' the Bofors howitzers to no avail. But I am very much off-topic here, I think.

Not having done enough research yet, I can vaguely remember BEML copying from CAT, maybe even had a collaboration at one time, for the smaller models. So now they have 'scaled up' for this the biggest, BH205-E, and can truly call it its own baby ?

I am yet to see a RHD Tatra ? This is news to me ! Maybe there is hope yet for the 'Make In India' slogan ?

Amen.

[Aroy]

I you read the specs, the engine and the electric drive are imported. Some of the other hydraulics may also be imported. So in effect this truck has a heck of a lot of imported components.

[Autolock123]

Some quick good info on these type of mining trucks

If you are not able to view the attachment please click here

Source- Industry tap