Press-centre

14 september 2021

On September 14, 2021 mining dump truck BELAZ-540 — the first and legendary model of BELAZ factory — celebrates its 60th anniversary!

Dump truck BELAZ-540 became the progenitor of a whole family of heavy-duty dump trucks supplied to more than 80 countries of worldwide.

The design of this truck incorporated many new technical solutions for the automotive industry, which subsequently ensured the efficient operation of the dump truck in open-pit mine conditions. These solutions include the first pneumohydraulic suspension applied in the practice of the domestic automotive industry, which provided high driving smoothness of both loaded and empty vehicles, the hydromechanical transmission, which was also used for the first time in the practice of our automotive industry for mass-produced trucks, the original truck layout: the location of the cab next to the engine allowed to obtain the minimum possible base and minimum overall dimensions and thereby increase the maneuverability of the truck, increase its stability, and the bucket-type body allowed to lower the center of gravity and also increase the stability of the vehicle. Ingenious solutions for steering and body hoist systems, guards and railings, and other components have become traditional for the development of dump trucks of the following classes of payload capacity. In 1965, without any interruptions in the production process, the company switched to the serial production of the 27-ton BELAZ-540 dump truck.

BELAZ-540 soon became a best-seller abroad. From 1970 to 1980, the UK bought 43 units of this BELAZ truck. This model was also supplied to Belgium, Italy, Cyprus, West Germany and Sweden. In addition, in the 1970s, Belarusian mining dump trucks of the BELAZ-540 family were purchased by Algeria, Afghanistan, Burma, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Egypt, Zambia, India, Iran, Cuba, Mongolia, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Syria, Turkey, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia. The major buyer was China. In the 1980s, other countries were added to this list of buyers.

As a result, the dump truck was highly appreciated internationally and ranked among the world's best models of similar equipment. And different international awards also came thick and fast. In February 1965, BELAZ-540 was awarded the gold medal of one of the oldest trade fairs in the world — the Leipzig Fair in East Germany (German Democratic Republic). In September 1966, BELAZ-540 received the "gold" prize of the Plovdiv Fair in Bulgaria.

The dump truck BELAZ-7540A with payload capacity of 30 metric tons, which appeared in the 1990s, was already considered a new model. Currently, several modifications of trucks of this payload capacity class demanded by the global market were developed.

BELAZ-540 will for the long haul remain in the hearts of many generations of truck manufacturers as a truly legendary vehicle, but still the main characters are the people who created the dump truck and laid a solid foundation in the manufacturing of mining equipment under the BELAZ brand.