GAZ » 63 / 63A
The Gorky motor vehicle plant began to develop the GAZ-62 cross-country truck in April 1938. The first prototypes of the GAZ-62 were built in March 1939 and in December 1940. These were tested successfully but the work on the advanced truck model was discontinued with the outbreak of the war. It was only in February 1943 that it was resumed. In November 1943, a prototype with the Studebaker cab and wings designated the GAZ-63 was manufactured. The vehicle featured single-tire rear wheels that had the same track as the front ones. A transfer gearbox with a splitter was added to the GAZ-51 gearbox. Apart from the reduction gear, the splitter had a direct drive which enabled reduction of mechanical losses in the transmission and of the fuel consumption. The front wheel drive was made discon-nectable with the locking mechanism disabling actuation of the reduction gear when the front drive was disconnected. The transfer gearbox location was selected such that the cardan shafts for the front and the rear axles had an identical length. A winch was installed at the GAZ-63A front for self-retrieval with a towing capacity of 4,500 kgf. The winch drive was from the engine via the power takeoff gearbox.
Serial manufacture was launched on 31 September 1948. In 1949, the truck design team was awarded the Stalin prize. The truck was in serial manufacture till the summer of 1968. Altogether, 474,464 trucks of all modifications were manufactured. These were exported to socialist countries, as well as to Finland and Asian, African and Middle East countries. The vehicles produced based on the GAZ-63 included the GAZ-40 (BTR-40) armored personnel carrier, the BM-14-17 (8U35) rocket artillery fighting vehicle, communication vehicles, tank trucks, buses, fire engines and other special-purpose vehicles.
Dimensions - 5,525x2,200x2,445 mm. Base - 3,300 mm. Track - 1,588/1,600 mm. Road clearance - 270 mm. Turning radius - 8.7 m. Weight: fitted vehicle - 3,280 kg, full weight - 5,350 kg. Payload: highway - 2,000 kg, offroad - 1,500 kg. Permissible weight of towed trailer - 2,000 kg. Engine: type GAZ-51, number of cylinders - 6, volume - 3,485 cm3, power - 70 hp. Wheel arrangement - 4x4. Tire size - 10.00-18". Fuel tank - 95+105 liters. Maximum speed - 65 kph. Fuel endurance - 675 km. Fording depth - 0.8 m. Maximum climb angle - 28 degrees.
