Modernized dump truck Ural-63685
THE POWER OF THE LITTLE THINGSOne of the principles of the Japanese production system, implemented today by the GAZ Group and at the automobile plant in Miass, says: “The path of improvement is endless.” The first all-wheel drive Miass dump truck Ural-63685 is designed to confirm this postulate. When in November 2005 a pilot batch of Ural road trucks rolled off the assembly line, it was announced that their operation would be monitored by specialists from the car plant. The statements did not diverge from the case. Now in Chelyabinsk and the region, at construction sites and quarries, the Ural-63685 has become no less familiar than dump trucks of other Russian and foreign brands. This allowed factory engineers to collect extensive information about the cars and use it to refine the design.
The exterior of the dump trucks has changed somewhat, and this is primarily visible in the bumper. Its shape has become more functional and at the same time cute. Now it is one-piece, and not consisting of two parts. Previously, when installing fiberglass bumpers, steps and wings of the cabin, you had to suffer - adjusting them to each other, and still sometimes you could stick your finger between the parts. Now the gaps have decreased. The headlights are more harmoniously integrated into the bumper and have a protective grille. At the request of transport workers, the original direction indicators were replaced with more familiar ones from Miass MAZ and KamAZ SUVs. They are easier to find on sale. Now the wings of the cabin and the mudguards of the front wheels have a different shape.
In order to climb into the cabin, it is no longer necessary to engage in all-around firefighting from a young age. The staircase, criticized by Race magazine, now has three steps. The lower one is suspended, flexible, it is impossible to break it off in a quarry or at a construction site. A budget version of the dump truck has appeared, designed for a consumer less spoiled by options. In particular, the imported heater-heater was replaced with a Russian one, and the gas exhaust and air supply systems for the engine were optimized. The cabin of the “state employee” is short, although northerners prefer to take a car only with a sleeping place.
For the sake of manufacturability, the radiator lining has lost its originality. Now it is made of steel, stamped, exactly the same as that installed on serial Urals with an 8x8 wheel arrangement. You lift it, and it becomes clear why the Miass designers have lost another reason for hiccups. They found a convenient place there for the oil filler neck, but previously they would have had to tip over the cabin to get to it...
To open the battery cover, you no longer need to remove the side protection. On today's dump trucks the lid is made of plastic, resistant to electrolyte vapors and with rubber fasteners. Quarry soil no longer accumulates on the receiver bundle; to eliminate this, the gaps between the cylinders have been increased. The design of the mounting of the wheel chocks has changed. The steel springs were replaced with rubber clamps, thereby improving the fixation of the stop in the bracket. The design of the spare wheel holder became simpler and more convenient after the folding bracket was changed to a rotating one.
The fixation of the locking pin of the rotating rear underrun guard has been changed. The cotter pin with the squeezing and unclenching of the antennae has been replaced by a “safety pin”.
On dump trucks of the first series, a beam of an additional support for the power unit burst during welding. The defect became a thing of the past after it was made entirely stamped.
The imported plastic pipelines for the cabin tilting mechanism had to be abandoned. They burst in the cold, tore and leaked, now imports have been replaced with domestic copper tubes and hoses.
The preheating system now has one instead of two fuel tanks. And it is located in a place that is more accessible for servicing: as soon as you tilt the cab, it is completely in front of the driver’s gaze.
The changes affected not only the car, but also the dump platform, which is also manufactured in Miass, at the Uralpromtekhnika enterprise. Moreover, this consists not only in the improved paint and varnish coating of the platform through the use of imported materials. The scheme for attaching the subframe to the frame has been changed; spring-loaded bolts have been used to reduce the bending moment when unloading the dump truck. A new retarder has appeared, which, at the request of the operators, has reduced the time it takes to raise and lower the platform, and the hinge unit has been changed. At the same time, an electric platform lift angle limiter was used instead of a hydraulic one, which made it possible to ensure that the platform stopped without jerking. Additional safety cables have been introduced to limit the platform's lifting angle and prevent its uncontrolled drop. An imported filter in the hydraulic system does a better job of cleaning the oil. The design of the tailgate clamps has been completely redesigned; previously they would freeze and become covered in dirt. Now they are open type and therefore self-cleaning.
In addition to Orsk-made hydraulic cylinders, which also received a portion of criticism in the Reis issue, it is now possible to install Neftekamsk ones used on KamAZ dump trucks, and in the future, the use of imported hydraulics. The Ural-63685 dump trucks use oil tanks of a new design, the use of which will turn the traditional dipstick into an archaism. The oil level can be determined visually: through the glass and using the indicator scale. And clogging indicators will appear on the drain and pressure filters.
From an operational point of view, the main achievement was that the maintenance schedules for the platform and chassis were aligned. And in the instruction manual itself there has been a significant increase in specifics: starting with the electrical diagram and ending with the designation of lubrication points.
In the near future, it is planned to introduce front fairings into the design documentation of the dump truck, which will be installed at the request of consumers. Other innovations include the use of a “soft” steering wheel. Design documentation has been developed for a three-axle all-wheel drive dump truck equipped with a more powerful power unit – YaMZ-7511 with a capacity of 400 hp. With. Such a truck can be used as part of a road train with a gross weight of up to 53.5 tons. It is curious that the semi-trailer of the closest competitor, MAZ-8561-02, is listed as recommended. This will make the competition even more intense, but the carrier will undoubtedly be the winner.
Dmitry Fedechkin, head of the press service
