ZIL-133

ZIL-133 is a Soviet/Russian 3 axle straight truck produced by ZIL (Zavod Imeni Likhachyova) in Moscow from 1975 to 2000. The first prototypes were developed in the early 1970s years in the Soviet Union. It was intended as a 3 axle version of the ZIL-130 with a higher payload.
Although the development of a truck on the base of ZIL-130 with a payload of 8 tons and 6×4 chassis configuration begun in the early 1960s and first prototypes were finalized in 1966, the serial production was postponed many times and begun only in the middle of the 1970s. The first petrol motor was developed on the basis of the ZIL-130 engine and has 140 kW of power with a torque of 441 Nm at 3800–3900 rpm, compression ratio of 7.5 and a cubic capacity of 6 liters. However the need in such a truck family was under question due to the introduction of the new KamAZ plant where the production of a new truck generation with modern Diesel engines and cabover construction was planned.
Nevertheless, in 1975 the decision to start the production of the first modification ZIL-133G1 was made. The truck became the biggest petrol powered сivil truck in the soviet union. After a modification in 1979 and the renaming into ZIL-133G2 the maximum payload increased from 8 to 10 tons.
The production numbers of the first modifications were low. Especially, because of the parallel development of a modification with the diesel engine KamAZ-740 which subsequently received the index ZIL-133GYa and was produced since 1979. The main feature of this modification was a longer "nose" compare to the petrol powered models due to larger engine dimensions. The new engine has had a power of 154 kW and was more effective compare to the petrol-powered ZIL-133G2. The fuel consumption was reduced from 48.3 L to 26.6 L / 100 km at an average velocity of 60 km/h so the decision to take the ZIL-133G2 out of production was already made in 1983.
The production number greatly increased and the new ZIL-133GYa became an full-fledged front-wheel steered alternative to the new KamAZ cabover trucks. The production at ZIL factory in Moscow continued up to 1992, in other sources to 1994. Most of the produced vehicles had a bare chassis, prepared for installation of different constructions like cranes or fire equipment and less often for a flatbed. Afterwards the model was modernized again and got the cab from the new truck line ZIL-4331 and the index ZIL-133G40. With a new indexing system ZIL-630900, new engine YaMZ-236A-1, new gearbox YaMZ-238L or SAAZ-54232A-1700010-20/30, the truck was produced even up to 2002. It was then replaced by the successor ZIL-6309N0 with the engine YaMZ-236NE2 which complied to the Euro II emission regulations.
Due to its unification with ZIL-130 there are only few constructive differences. One of the main technical differences are the steering axle with a straight beam, two driven axles, of which first carries the center differential with a manual lock as well as an extended frame with modified spar separation.
As typical for soviet vehicles, there existed many modifications of the ZIL-133 which were constructed for special operational purposes like Fire engines, cranes and agricultural vehicles.