The BelAZ 7522 is the modernised mining dump truck that the Belarusian Automobile Plant put into production in 1985 in place of the BelAZ-540A. It continued a line of 27-tonne quarry trucks whose shape, cab and front end were drawn at the start of the 1960s.
BelAZ 7522 at a glance
| Maker | Belarusian Automobile Plant (BelAZ), Zhodino |
|---|---|
| Type | Rigid mining dump truck |
| Introduced | 1985 |
| Replaced | BelAZ-540A |
| Line began | BelAZ-540, series production from 1965 |
| Body designer | Valentin Kobylinsky |
| Cab | single, offset to one side, windscreen leaning inward |
| First engine | D12A-375B |
| Engine from 1967 | YaMZ-240 |
| 25,000th truck of the line | 17 December 1976 |
| Predecessor built until | 1985 |
| Page source | Russian Wikipedia article on the BelAZ-540 |
The BelAZ 7522 has no article of its own; it is documented in the Russian Wikipedia article on the BelAZ-540, whose production it continued from 1985. This page is based on that single source, so it is shorter than usual.
History of the BelAZ 7522
One designer, one cab
The shape of the truck the 7522 continued was set by Valentin Kobylinsky. He gave the machine a single cab placed asymmetrically, with the windscreen leaning inward and a one-piece bonnet. At the end of 1960 he made the sketches and general-arrangement drawings and the frame for the model, and at the beginning of 1961 a clay model was built at a scale of 1:10. From that model and the revised drawings the body engineers worked out the cab, the front panel and all the pressings of the dump truck.
From prototype to series
The first prototype BelAZ-540 was built on 14 September 1961 and sent to Moscow for the opening of the 22nd Congress of the Communist Party; afterwards the machine was shown for two months at the VDNKh exhibition in Moscow. On 9 April 1962 the prototype entered trial service in the quarry of the Rozdol sulphur-chemical combine at Novy Rozdol. Several more trial machines were built in 1962–1963 for factory tests, and numbers 6 and 7 went to the Mikhaylovsky iron-ore mine in Kursk Oblast for acceptance trials. After the factory and state tests the design was revised and the technical documentation was issued at the end of 1963 to prepare production. A pilot batch of 20 trucks was built in 1964 and series production began in 1965.
Two engines side by side
The first production BelAZ-540 used the D12A-375B engine, because the Yaroslavl engine plant had not yet begun series production of the more modern YaMZ-240. In 1967 the BelAZ-540A appeared with the YaMZ-240, but supplies of the Yaroslavl engine were insufficient, so the version with the tank-derived engine stayed in production alongside the 540A until 1974. The 25,000th truck of the line was completed on 17 December 1976.
A unified front end
The first design had twin headlamps in rectangular surrounds. When the same cab and front had to be used on the larger 40-tonne 548 model, a unified front appeared in the form of a buffer shaped like the letter “G” with the right-hand headlamp built into it. That solved the problem of using one cab on trucks of different payloads, and it is the face the 7522 inherited.
The 7522 takes over
In 1985 the modernised BelAZ-7522 replaced the BelAZ-540A in production. The Russian Wikipedia article on the 540 line records the 7522 as the direct successor of the 540A and does not describe the changes made to the newer truck, so the 7522 is known chiefly as the final development of a cab and chassis family that had been in production for twenty years.
Design and features
- Offset single cab: the driver sat on one side in a cab with an inward-leaning windscreen, a layout drawn by Valentin Kobylinsky.
- Unified front end: the “G”-shaped buffer with an integrated right-hand headlamp let one cab serve trucks of 27 and 40 tonnes.
- Progressive engine change: the tank-derived D12A-375B gave way to the YaMZ-240 in the 540A, and both versions were built side by side until 1974.
- Twenty years of the same family: production ran from 1965 to 1985, and the 7522 carried the line into its third decade.
BelAZ 7522 versions
- BelAZ-540 (1965): the original series truck with the D12A-375B engine.
- BelAZ-540A (1967): the same truck with the YaMZ-240 engine.
- BelAZ-540 with the tank engine (1965–1974): kept in production alongside the 540A because YaMZ supplies were short.
- BelAZ-7522 (from 1985): the modernised replacement for the 540A.
The later thirty-tonne BelAZ 7540 is listed among the plant’s current models. More trucks of the plant are in the BelAZ collection.
Sources
- BelAZ-540, Russian Wikipedia: design, prototypes, engines, production figures, the 7522 as successor
