This used Liebherr R970 for sale is a 75-tonne class crawler excavator located in Alconbury and ready to go straight to work. At an operating weight of 75,400 kg, the R970 sits in the upper end of the heavy excavator market and is built for serious mass excavation, quarry work, heavy earthmoving, and demolition prep.
Power comes from a Liebherr 330 kW diesel engine with AdBlue SCR, making it fully compliant with London ULEZ and other Clean Air Zones around the UK. If you’re tendering for city-centre or urban demolition jobs where emissions compliance is now a gating requirement, this machine ticks that box straight out of the gate.
Attachments and Working Equipment
The machine comes with a 7ft MST HI-SPEC heavy duty digging bucket, and the hydraulic auxiliary lines are plumbed for rotating attachments – so if you’re running tilt rotators, sorting grabs, or rotating pulverisers, it’s already set up for them. A ripper is available at additional cost if needed.
The boom and dipper have safety check valves fitted, which is standard practice on machines working at height or in demolition environments where a hydraulic failure could be catastrophic. There’s also a demolition cab guard and an engine bay safety ring fitted, both of which point to this machine having been specced for heavy-duty site work from the outset.
Undercarriage and Mobility
Track pads are 600mm, which is the standard width for the R970 platform and gives a good balance between ground pressure and stability on typical UK ground conditions. Two-speed tracking lets you switch between a slower, high-torque mode for positioning on site and a faster travel speed for moving between work areas.
Cab and Site Equipment
The cab is fitted with rear and side-view cameras, additional LED work lights, and orange and green site beacons – so it’s ready to go onto a managed site without needing anything bolted on. Auto idle is fitted as standard on the Liebherr, which drops the engine to tick-over when the hydraulics aren’t being called on, cutting fuel burn and noise during idle time.
The listing also notes that the machine comes with hydraulic folding steps and a walkway, though these aren’t shown in the photos. Worth asking to see them during any inspection.
Why Consider This Used Liebherr R970?
Liebherr’s R970 has carved out a strong niche in the UK plant market for operators who need something bigger than a 50-tonner but don’t want to jump up to a 100-tonne machine. The 330 kW engine and Liebherr’s own hydraulic system deliver the digging forces and cycle times needed for high-output excavation work, and the build quality on these machines is well-known in the industry – they’re designed to keep going in quarries, heavy demolition, and mass earthworks where lesser machines start showing fatigue.
The machine is CE marked and EPA compliant.
