"Land" in secret
With the appearance of a real automotive giant in Naberezhnye Chelny, Ural trucks fell into a real technological dependence on it. At first, it was the KamAZ-740 engines, which were constantly lacking for the Ural plant, and then the story happened with the new cab.
In 1976, the management of the Miass Automobile Plant decided to develop a new family of army trucks, which received the code "Land". The main model was supposed to be the three-axle Ural-4322 - the direct heir to the diesel model 4320 with an outdated cabin from the Ural-375. But the engineers and customers from the Ministry of Defense did not stop there. The project also included a cabover car, the cab for which was borrowed from KamAZ. This decision now does not seem to be the most correct one, since direct competitors divide one complex unit into two cars of the same class. However, in the conditions of the Soviet Union and the absence of a market, they did not think about it - such decisions were caused by the saving of resources for development.
Also in the "Sushi" line was the four-axle heavy model "Ural-5322", the layout of which, of course, was also cabover. If you look closely at the bonnet version of the new "Ural", you will clearly see the elements of the "KAMAZ" - the windshield and doors. The base of the cockpit and the engine shield were redesigned for the needs of the Ural. It should be noted that the novelty looked quite organic. Among the innovations, engineers from Miass came up with a recess in the rear wall for the spare wheel. This decision made it possible to increase the length of the body, moving it closer to the cab. In 1978, the idea of floating trucks, which had long been obsessed with in the Soviet Union, found its continuation in the development work of "Susha". As part of the project, a unique "Ural-4322P" was built, outwardly almost indistinguishable from the "land" versions, but equipped with an all-metal sealed body and removable wave reflectors. At the same time, the car moved on the water not only by rotating the wheels, but also using a pair of propellers. Option 43221A was a three-axle cabover version.
But even this seemed not enough - a floating version of the four-axle truck "Ural-5322P" (53221) with a carrying capacity of 7 tons was developed.
The first experiments on overcoming water obstacles floating machines of the "Susha" family took place at home, on Lake Turgoyak in the Chelyabinsk region. Experiments on floating Urals were not the first in the history of the Miass plant - at the very beginning of the 70s, two cabover amphibians were built.
Ural-379P (three-axle) and Ural-395P (four-axle) became the world's first floating heavy trucks. Here, too, movement on the water was carried out with the help of two three-blade propellers, to the aid of which wheels with developed lugs came. The main buoyancy was provided by a sealed body, and polyurethane foam throughout the body protected against leaks. The machines were distinguished by original cabins of their own design and from afar did not in any way remind of the "seaworthiness" qualities of the Urals. The results of the tests were rather positive, but the case did not come to serial implementation, and the work was continued in the future in the ROC "Susha".
Motors and series
In the engine range of the new Urals, initially there was a complete borrowing of power units from colleagues from Naberezhnye Chelny. The base was, of course, the V-shaped KamAZ-740 210 hp. with., and for heavy four-axle trucks they hoped to install a promising V-shaped 10-cylinder KamAZ-741 engine with 260 hp. with. The last motor was the fruit of modular unification with the younger motor.
Five years after the start of work on the Land project, it was decided to equip the machines with advanced air-cooled diesel engines Deutz F8L413. A plant was even built for this engine (named "Ural-744") in Kustanai, which was discussed in the first part of the cycle. However, the attempt to become independent from KamAZ was in vain - the plant began work under the collapse of the Soviet Union, further cooperation with it turned out to be impossible.
In addition to the aforementioned versions of the machines of the new family, the Ural-4322B version was also developed, the chassis of which was lengthened by 275 mm. The cargo platform of such a vehicle was already 4664 mm long and allowed 33 fighters to be accommodated at once. In addition, all cars under the code "Land" were additionally sealed, which provided the trucks with the ability to overcome a ford with a depth of 1.75 meters. At the end of the 1980s, standard inhabited frameless bodies K-4322 were developed for the Ural-4322 machines at the Institute of Forestry Engineering, which, together with all the machines of the "Land" family, were accepted for production. Before the state commission recommended new "Urals" in the series, they, in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of Defense, ran 35 thousand kilometers in hot deserts and frosty north.
In general, I liked the cars very much, among the recommendations were the improvement of air circulation in the engine compartment (the engine, let me remind you, is an air-cooled diesel) and the insulation of the engine shield of the cab. Out of the entire family, only the Ural-43223 bonnet went into series production, and only in 1992, when finally the first engines from Kostanay were received in Miass. In total, 405 diesel engines were delivered from Kazakhstan to the South Urals, after which German Deutz KHD F8K413F with a capacity of 256 hp were installed on a part of the Urals. with. Together with imported motors, the machines of the "Land" series were equipped with the Zahnradfabrik (ZF) gearbox. A certain percentage of cars were assembled with traditional KAMAZ 740 series diesel engines. And, it would seem, things went well - in addition to the production range, a civilian dump truck "Ural-55223" was introduced, the car was taken quite well even with expensive imported units. The assembly was organized outside the main conveyor in the small series production workshop. At the same time, the auto plant workers assembled the Ural-43223S rally-raid cars, on which they won first and second places in the Polish Yelchi rally in 1992. In September of the same year, several trucks took part in the "Paris - Moscow - Beijing" super marathon, to the end of which only one crew from Miass reached the end. Despite numerous breakdowns and the final last place, the riders with the co-driver received the prize "For the will to win".
After all this, the Kamsky Automobile Plant unexpectedly came to its senses and cut off the supply of stamped cabin blanks for Miass - after all, the enterprise in Miass produced direct competitors. Having collected about 1000 vehicles (according to other sources, no more than 500), the Ural Automobile Plant in 1998 stopped production of trucks with new-generation cabins. As we know, the Ural had to wait until 2014 for a new massive bonnet cab (unified with civilian GAZ) … Let me remind you that in Naberezhnye Chelny they could not independently develop a cab for their own cars.
All army "Ural-43223", which managed to get into the Russian army, were removed from service in 1998. One of the last cars of the "Land" project is now kept in the Ryazan Museum of Automotive Technology (now this site belongs to the Museum of the History of the Airborne Forces). At the beginning of the 20th century, the factory workers' attempts to improve the appearance of the cab of the classic "Ural" with the help of plastic panels cause nothing but an indulgent smile.
In spite of everything, the history of the "Land" project cannot be called hopeless for the plant. Firstly, many developments formed the basis of a new family for military needs - "Motovoz". And secondly, all this showed the factory workers that in the conditions of a free market, one can only hope for themselves and motor builders, deprived of their own automobile production. This was the Yaroslavl Motor Plant.
