GAZ-63 is a Soviet truck. History, description, technical characteristics

Gorky Automobile Plant is famous for its trucks. The usual, it would seem, rear-wheel drive GAZ-51 became a legend of the domestic car industry. All-wheel drive GAZ-63 was undeservedly left in the memory of only amateurs, and historians do not spoil it with attention.

Beginning of creation history

The famous half-truck GAZ-AA was the only truck in the last decade before the Great Patriotic War. It is already obsolete and morally, and technically and required replacement. The army was in dire need of an all-wheel drive truck with high throughput.

In early 1938 at the Gorky Automobile Plant. Molotov began work on the creation of a series of trucks intended for difficult road conditions. Two- and three-axle four-wheel-drive cargo chassis differed mainly in the length of the base.

The first domestic all-wheel drive car GAZ-63 began its history in April 1938. A year later, the first prototypes were built, which were originally called GAZ-62. They installed modernized engines from the GAZ-MM 50-liter semitrailer. from. The cab was used from the GAZ-415 pickup truck, and the chassis was designed specifically for this model.

Design features

The development of the new design did not deal with the cab. The main task was to create a cross-country vehicle, so attention was paid to the running gear.

A fundamentally different arrangement - the engine was located above the front axle - allowed to increase the carrying capacity when the base length was reduced.

For the first time, single-track wheels with the same front and rear track were installed, they were all leading, and for the sake of fuel economy, the front-wheel drive could be switched off. Gable rear wheels, which are forced to expand the track on sand and mud, lead to excess power consumption. The transfer box was installed so that the length of the cardan shafts to both the front and rear axle was the same. Dependent suspension of all wheels was located on semi-elliptic springs, and the front still had hydraulic shock absorbers of double action. Hydraulic was the drive of the handbrake.

In early 1943, the car and the engine were changed by car. With a cabin from Studebaker, it lasted until the end of the Lend-Lease supplies.

The release of this car was resumed in 1948 with a cabin from GAZ-51. The overall dimensions of the GAZ-63 in the updated version were 5525 × 2200 × 2245 mm.

Machine-based combat equipment

In October 1943 at the Gorky Automobile Plant began to develop a wheeled self-propelled gun with a gun caliber 76 mm. By May 1944 the first copy was issued. On either side of the gun were the driver's and the gunner's commanding seats. The ammunition consisted of fifty-eight shells. This machine fought at the end of the Great Patriotic War.

In parallel with the development of the model of a lorry on its base in 1947, a light two-axle armored personnel carrier with a bearing body was developed, called the BTR-40. BTR was designed for eight paratroopers. The wheelbase was reduced by 600 mm, the engine power was raised to 81 liters. With., Having increased the upper limit of the speed of rotation and sacrificing with this longevity, which for the military equipment of special significance did not have.

Armed with BTR machine gun machine Goryunova system, whose ammunition included 1260 cartridges. The machine gun could be mounted along the sides to one of the four brackets. On the same brackets it was possible to install a manual DPM machine gun, which was armed with paratroopers. Modification BTR-40A was equipped with coupled large-caliber machine guns KVPT. In 1993 the armored personnel carrier was disarmed.

The GAZ-63 chassis was produced in 1950 and the BM-14 "Katyusha" combat artillery machine.

Mass production

From the beginning of autumn of 1948 the mass production of GAZ-63 began. Characteristics by that time he successfully confirmed by state tests, during which climbed up to 30 °, fords up to 0.9 m and ditches to 0.76 m deep. The consumption of the cheapest A-66 gasoline was from 25 to 29 liters per 100 kilometers, load capacity on the highway 2.0 tons, on a dirt road 1.5 tons.

A significant drawback of this car was the instability in high-speed corners. The ground clearance was 270 mm with a narrow track, it increased the passability of the truck, but at the same time increasing the height and leading to a tipping over corners and slopes. This was especially true for high-tech vehicles on the GAZ-63 chassis, for example, vans or cisterns.

In the summer of 1968 the last such serial car was released. For all time, 474 thousand cars of different modifications were produced. They were exported to the countries of the socialist camp, Finland, the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Deliveries for export

GDR, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia in Eastern Europe, Vietnam, the DPRK, Laos and Mongolia in Asia, Cuba, African countries - the states to which the GAZ-63 was supplied. The price of export cars was understated. The equipment was supplied as part of fraternal assistance to friendly countries.

Not only the basic models of the all-wheel drive truck GAZ-63 and 63A were delivered abroad, but also its 63P versions in export and tropical versions, cars with shielded equipment 63E, buses on this chassis and other models.

In addition, in North Korea since 1961 under the brand Sungri-61 Sungri-61NA and in China since 1965 under the brand Yuejin NJ230 and NJ230A were produced under a Soviet license cars based on this machine.

In the fighting in the DPRK, a Soviet four-wheel-drive army truck proved to be a real combat vehicle and earned the recognition of the military.

Army car

Until 1950, the car cabin was wooden, then metal with wooden doors, and since 1956 - all-metal. It was cramped and cold, the heater in the structure appeared only in 1952, despite the fact that the preheaters were installed in cars from the beginning of production.

The cargo-and-passenger platform with high latticed board boards was equipped with folding longitudinal benches for transportation of soldiers. The tailgate was folding. From the bad weather defended the tent, which stretched on four arcs, installed in special nests. The height of the car along the awning was 2,810 mm.

Increased the functionality of the car and the fact that it could tow trailers with a carrying capacity of two tons.

The army off-road truck GAZ-63 was used to transport personnel, for towing guns, for mounting combat installations.

Modifications of SUV

The main modifications of the off-road truck were only two.

In parallel with the base model, a modification was made with a winch at the front end of the extended GAZ-63A frame for self-hauling and assistance to other vehicles in difficult road conditions. A winch with a cable of 65 m in length was driven by a cardan shaft through the power take-off from the transmission and developed a pulling force of up to 4.5 tons. The curb weight of the car is 240 kg larger than that of the base model.

In 1958, the GAZ-63P tractor with reduced wheels was launched to work with a uniaxial semitrailer with a carrying capacity of up to four tons. The rear wheels of the tractor were already gabled. And from next year the plant began to produce a truck tractor GAZ-63D. In its design, unlike the previous modification, included a power take-off box and a mechanical outlet for driving the dump truck in the construction of the semitrailer.

Special vehicles on the basis of SUV

Refuelers, oil tankers, milk tanks, vans, mobile body shops, staff and medical buses, disinfection plants, screw-rotor machines were assembled on the basis of GAZ-63. The fire-fighting vehicle of communication and lighting, the tanker of several modifications was produced by the Vargashinsky plant of fire fighting equipment. Staff and sleeved fire trucks were produced at the Moscow factory of fire trucks.

For the military, in addition to basic models, staff and medical buses, shielded warm and hermetic communication machines, DDA-53A disinfection and shower units were manufactured for sanitary treatment in the field by personnel, disinfection and disinfestation of uniforms and equipment. The plant was supplied with a steam boiler with liquid fuel or wood, working pressure of which was four atmospheres, a boiler-accumulator, a hand pump, a steamer, control equipment, two disinfection chambers and shower cabins with twelve shower screens.

Specifications

Since a civilian GAZ-51 truck was being built almost simultaneously with the army, most of the units and parts were unified, which allowed them to be assembled on the same conveyor in time, thereby reducing the cost of assembly and simplifying operation.

The engine for an army SUV was installed with a GAZ-51 six-cylinder carburetor lower valve volume of 3.5 thousand cubic meters. See A small margin of power in 70 liters. from. And the speed of 65 km / h was compensated by the power reserve with full load without refueling at 780 km.

Two fuel tanks, the main and additional, gave a fuel reserve of almost 200 liters of gasoline. GAZ-63 (diesel) appeared in various homemade versions and is being finalized by the craftsmen up to now.

The gearbox in this car is a four-speed, clutch - single-disk, dry, in the transfer case - two stages and a demultiplikator, which is equipped not only by reducing, but also by direct transmission to reduce fuel consumption on highways.

GAZ-63 was hardy, unpretentious and easy to operate, had high cross-country capacity, thanks to these characteristics it was produced almost twenty years. It can be found now and not only among fans - with conservation, at competitions, but also on the roads. Its price fluctuates in the car market from 60 to 450 thousand rubles, depending on the condition and availability of native parts and components.