ZIL-130

Development and production history

The ZIL-130 took about a decade to move from first studies to series production, which began on 1 October 1964. Work on a successor to the ZIL-164 is usually dated to 1953, when the project ran under the index ZIS-125. The ZIL-164 was itself only a deep update of the older ZIS-150.

The first prototype was ready in 1956. A second prototype followed in 1959 and stayed on test until 1961, which means the design spent roughly six years being proven before the factory committed to it. Pilot batches were assembled from 1962 (sources disagree on the exact number), and full series output started in October 1964. The truck is reported to have received a diploma and gold medal at the Leipzig International Fair in 1963. For the wider background of the factory and its other products, see the history of the ZIL plant.

Modernisations and why the truck has two names

The ZIL-130 was updated three times without losing its basic layout, and in 1986 it changed its name rather than its engineering. The ZIL-130-66 of 1966 was rated at 110 kW (150 PS) and 5,000 kg (11,023 lb) of payload. The ZIL-130-76, in production from 1977, raised the payload to 6,000 kg and brought a revised front end with a different radiator enclosure. The factory's quoted service life before major overhaul is given as 200,000 km (124,000 mi) for the 1966 truck and 300,000 km (186,000 mi) for the 1976 version. A further update, the ZIL-130-80, added three independent brake circuits and is usually dated to 1984.

In 1986 Soviet trucks moved to a new numeric index system, and the ZIL-130 became the ZIL-431410. Its relatives were renamed at the same time: the long-wheelbase ZIL-130G became the ZIL-431510, the ZIL-130V1 tractor unit became the ZIL-441510 and the gas-fuelled ZIL-138 became the ZIL-431810. This is why registration papers and parts catalogues for what is essentially the same truck can show either name. A ZIL-431410 from the late 1980s is a late ZIL-130, not a separate model.

End of production at ZIL and later derivatives

ZIL built the last truck of the family on 30 December 1994, and its serial number, 3,388,312, is the basis for the commonly rounded total of about 3.4 million. English-language references round the total to 3.38 million, but the serial number is the firmest figure. The design then continued at UAMZ, later renamed AMUR, which built derivatives such as the UAMZ-43140, AMUR-43140 and AMUR-531350. Sources differ on when that work started and when it ended; the end dates usually given are 2010 and 2012.

Cab, frame and chassis design

The ZIL-130 uses a conventional bonneted layout with a riveted ladder frame, leaf springs on both axles, pneumatic drum brakes and a two-door cab for three people. The frame has two channel-section side members tied together by five cross members, and the front axle adds telescopic shock absorbers to the leaf springs. Steering is a screw-and-nut type with a hydraulic booster, and the electrical system runs at 12 V.

The cab, like the chassis, was an original ZIL design rather than an adaptation of a foreign truck. A four-door crew cab existed only on fire engines; all cargo versions kept the two-door cab. The flatbed body on the standard truck is usually quoted at 3,752 × 2,326 × 575 mm (147.7 × 91.6 × 22.6 in), with a loading height of 1,450 mm (57.1 in).

The brakes changed during production. The ZIL-130-80 update divided the pneumatic system into three independent circuits, a relevant change for a truck rated to pull an 8,000 kg (17,637 lb) braked trailer.

ZIL-130 V8 engine and transmission

The ZIL-130 engine is a 6.0-litre, 90-degree petrol V8 with overhead valves and a two-barrel carburettor from the K-88 series, rated at 110 kW (150 PS). Bore and stroke are 100 × 95 mm (3.94 × 3.74 in), and the compression ratio is only 6.5:1. That low figure was deliberate, letting the engine run on low-octane petrol. Peak torque is 402 Nm (297 lb-ft). The earliest engines were rated at 109 kW (148 PS) at 3,000 rpm; the 1966 update settled on 110 kW (150 PS) at 3,100 rpm.

One V8 for trucks, a minibus and test engines

The 6.0-litre V8 was not used in the ZIL-130 alone. The ZIL-118 Yunost minibus, built on limousine components, ran the ZIL-130 V8 from 1962 to 1965, and the six-wheel-drive ZIL-131 used it throughout. ZIL also tested other engines in the 130 chassis: the ZIL-130L prototype had the ZIL-120VK inline-six, the ZIL-130M a ZMZ-41 V8 and the ZIL-130SHM a Steyr diesel. None reached series production with these engines. ZIL built trucks and state limousines side by side, and the limousine line later produced cars such as the ZIL-41047 limousine.

Gearbox, clutch and final drive

Drive goes to the rear axle through a single dry-plate clutch and a five-speed manual gearbox with synchromesh on second to fifth gear. Fifth is a direct drive and first has a ratio of 7.44:1. The rear axle has a double-reduction final drive with a ratio of 6.32:1 from late 1970. Top speed is 90 km/h (56 mph). There was no all-wheel-drive ZIL-130; for driven front wheels ZIL built the separate ZIL-131.

ZIL-130 specifications

The table gives the late ZIL-built version (ZIL-130-76 and ZIL-431410) with the standard 3,800 mm (149.6 in) wheelbase; tractor and tipper chassis used a short 3,300 mm (129.9 in) wheelbase and the ZIL-130G a long 4,500 mm (177.2 in) one.

Two figures need context. The 29 L/100 km consumption is a factory control figure at a steady 60 km/h (37 mph), not an average for a loaded truck in daily work. The power figure is in metric horsepower (PS), as the factory quoted it. Some reference works list a 175 L tank instead of 170 L, and payload figures of 5,000 kg belong to trucks built before the 1976 modernisation.

Variants and derivatives

The ZIL-130 family covers flatbed trucks in several wheelbases, a semi-trailer tractor unit, tipper chassis, gas-fuelled and climate-specific versions, and a long list of special bodies built by other plants.

The ZIL-130V1 is the tractor unit for semi-trailers, built on the short wheelbase, and its permitted gross train weight was raised with each modernisation. The tipper versions show how the chassis was shared out: the cab-chassis left ZIL without a body, and the MMZ plant fitted dump bodies such as the ZIL-MMZ-555 and, later, the MMZ-4502. Other plants used the same chassis for truck cranes such as the KS-2561, airfield service vehicles and water tankers. The ZIL-130AN and 130K are a quieter oddity, swapping the V8 for the inline-six of the earlier ZIL-157 6×6.

ZIL-131 and ZIL-133: the family beyond the 4×2

The all-wheel-drive ZIL-131 is the 6×6 military sibling of the ZIL-130 and shares its V8 and many other parts. It entered production in the second half of the 1960s, after the 130 was already in series. The two-axle truck came first.

The three-axle ZIL-133 is a 6×4 development of the ZIL-130 for heavier loads, usually dated from the mid-1970s. Together the three trucks form one engineering family.

Operation and legacy

With about 3.4 million built at ZIL, the ZIL-130 was a mass-produced general-purpose truck of the Soviet Union (USSR) from the mid-1960s into the 1990s. Its chassis carried freight bodies, tippers, fire engines, cranes and airfield equipment. The millionth truck is reported to have left the line in 1974. The model also received the Soviet State Quality Mark in the early 1970s; sources give the year as 1971 or 1973.

Its successor, the ZIL-4331, arrived in the late 1980s, yet the ZIL-130 in its ZIL-431410 form stayed in production alongside it until December 1994. The plant's later range, including the ZIL-5301 light truck, sat in a different weight class altogether.

Among Soviet contemporaries, a useful comparison is the GAZ-53, which also used a V8 but belonged to the lighter 3.5-tonne payload class, while the MAZ-500 sat above the ZIL in size.

Preservation and collecting

A sensible first step in restoring a ZIL-130 is to identify which version it is, because three decades of production and the 1986 renaming mean that badges, plates and paperwork do not necessarily agree. A few checks help:

• The index on the papers: ZIL-130 before 1986, ZIL-431410 (or 431510 and 441510 for the long-wheelbase and tractor versions) afterwards.
• The front end: trucks from the 1976 modernisation onwards have the revised radiator enclosure.
• The rated payload plate: 5,000 kg points to a 1966–1976 truck, 6,000 kg to a later one.
• The brakes: three independent circuits indicate the ZIL-130-80 update.

The shared V8 and many other components link the ZIL-130 to the ZIL-131 and the later UAMZ and AMUR derivatives, which widens the pool of donor parts. Anyone planning to drive one regularly should treat the factory 29 L/100 km figure as a best case rather than an everyday average. The truck has also been reproduced by several scale-model makers since the late 1980s, and it appears in video games such as Far Cry 2 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. For other models from the same factory, browse all ZIL models.