Kenworth and FAUN for Soviet Samotlor
FAUN HZ 40.45/45 (6×6) “Koloss”
Domestic school
The Soviet Union was never a closed country. This was especially true in the technical sector—scientists and engineers constantly studied imported designs. Moreover, some industries received a significant technological boost in the post-war period. The design concepts of American Lend-Lease trucks continued to be looked up to by domestic equipment developers for a long time. NAMI regularly and meticulously dissected imported equipment of various classes, from compact cars to heavy dump trucks. Some were obtained through official foreign trade, while others, as is now fashionable to say, were obtained through gray import channels.
Some imported technical solutions found their way into Soviet technology in adapted form. Today, however, no one can say for sure where, what, and when these technologies were borrowed. As a result, the USSR developed a distinctive automotive culture that incorporated the best foreign developments and numerous homegrown innovations.
However, when it came time to develop the oil and gas fields of Western Siberia, primarily Samotlor, heavy equipment proved insufficient. This was especially true of pipe trucks. This unusual name is easily explained: main pipelines carry not just single pipes, but welded sections of several pipes up to 36–48 meters long, known in the professional slang of oil workers and construction workers as "plets." These units are also known by other names, such as a road train, a pipe truck, or, in the American vernacular, a pipe truck. But whatever the name, the problem of shortages remains. In the USSR, the entire arsenal of available vehicles was used to cope with the harsh conditions of Western Siberia.
KrAZ-255L with a whip carrier
The famous "man-eating" KrAZ 255L trucks and the older KrAZ-214 were used—the PV-202 pipe-carrying truck was adapted for use as tractors. These Kremenchuk trucks were the primary supporters of oil and gas workers at the dawn of the mining era in the USSR. Typically, a truck carried a single 36-meter pipe, welded together from three 12-meter pipes.
KrAZ-214 with a PV-202 whip carrier
There were heavier vehicles, too. I'm talking about the MAZ-7910, designed in 1974 specifically for Western Siberian conditions and capable of hauling two 36-meter-long pipes. Before that, it served as a heavy-duty pipe carrier. artillery The MAZ-535 tractor, which was adapted at NAMI. In the mid-60s, ZiL's Special Design Bureau (SKB) attempted to adapt the famous twin-engine ZiL-135LB for the needs of the oil industry.
Experimental ZiL-135LB
Minsk-made machines have contributed greatly to the development of oil and gas fields in Western Siberia.
A rotating tube-type cone with a massive protective shield behind the cabin was mounted on the frame of the land-based missile carrier, with a two-axle trailer attached to the rear. Tests showed that the missile carrier, as a "trumpeter," had fantastic cross-country ability in deep snow and mud. However, the civilian version never went into production: the two engines consumed enormous amounts of fuel, the Bryansk-made manual transmission proved unreliable under such loads, and the Ministry of Defense required absolutely every chassis in this series produced. The situation with the Minsk-made vehicles wasn't much better—their service life was limited. tank The engine's performance was low, but its oil and fuel consumption were prohibitive. In 1976, the S. M. Kirov Mogilev Automobile Plant (MoAZ) built a prototype MoAZ-74111 pipe-carrying road train at the request of the USSR Ministry of Gas Industry. Nothing worthwhile came of it—a few vehicles were assembled in Mogilev and then stopped there.
A restored photo of the experimental MoAZ-74111 pipe-carrying road train.
The fate of the example pictured is unique: it was initially tested as a multi-purpose flatbed truck, then converted into a wood-carrying vehicle. Later, in 1978, it was fitted with a fifth-wheel coupling from a MAZ-537G military tractor for towing heavy semi-trailers, and by 1980, this same prototype had been fully converted into a 30-ton quarry dump truck. To summarize, one conclusion suggests itself: equipment for developing the mineral resources of Western Siberia was in short supply in the 70s. In addition to wood-carrying vehicles, there was a shortage of heavy-duty tractors for low-deck trailers.
foreign technology
In the post-war years, the West German automobile manufacturer FAUN made a powerful technological leap, establishing itself among the top European automakers. The company abandoned competition in the high-volume, long-haul truck segment and focused on creating unique, custom-built engineering vehicles: quarry dump trucks, airport fire trucks, heavy-duty construction chassis, and land-based super-tractors.
The 1970s and 1980s were the company's golden age. It was then that FAUN became the primary supplier of heavy military tank carriers for the German Bundeswehr (the FAUN SLT 50 "Elefant" family of off-road tractors) and also entered the Soviet market. The main phase of contracts and the massive arrival of equipment at Siberian construction sites and oil fields occurred between 1977 and 1982. It was then, as part of the large-scale development of Western Siberia and the construction of strategic transcontinental gas pipelines (for example, the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline), that the USSR Ministry of Oil and Gas Construction, through its foreign trade agencies, concluded major contracts for the import of German heavy-duty vehicles.
In total, the Soviet Union imported 254 heavy-duty German trucks over the years of cooperation. In 1976–1977, three-axle FAUN HZ 32.25/40 (6×6) bonneted ballast tractors were purchased, which were used to transport tracked construction equipment on low-deck trailers and deliver heavy loads. By the early 80s, more powerful, monstrous cabover and bonneted pipe carriers began arriving in the Tyumen region, including the legendary FAUN HZ 40.45/45 (6×6) series with 450-hp Deutz engines.
So, the first vehicle is the FAUN HZ 32.25/40 (6×6). The key technical feature and the key to this vehicle's incredible reliability in the Siberian oil fields of Tyumen and Samotlor was its powertrain—a V-shaped, 10-cylinder, air-cooled Klockner-Humboldt-Deutz (KHD) F10L413F diesel engine producing 320 horsepower. This same engine, but with a reduced number of cylinders, was installed in the legendary Magirus for the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM). Forced-air cooling of the powerplant was a key requirement of Soviet customers.
The engine was paired with a ZF multi-speed manual transmission, coupled with a specialized ZF WSK torque converter. This sophisticated hydromechanical transmission allowed a loaded road train with a gross vehicle weight of up to 100 tons to move smoothly in mud or on icy winter roads without interrupting power flow or risking burning clutch discs. All-wheel drive on all three axles with rigid differential locks and powerful axles with planetary wheel reduction gears provided the vehicle with excellent maneuverability.
In accordance with Soviet specifications, the vehicles were equipped with an exclusive "Northern Package" on the Lauf assembly line: the cabins were equipped with reinforced thermal insulation, double glazing, frost-resistant rubber components, and independent Webasto heaters. A special ballast box was mounted behind the spacious and comfortable cabin, where concrete or metal ballast was loaded to further support the rear drive bogie when towing trailers.
The second model from the German concern imported to the USSR was the FAUN HZ 40.45/45 (6×6) "Koloss." Engineers scaled the engine to 12 cylinders, achieving 455 hp at peak. The tractor was designed to tow heavy multi-axle lowboys and special pipe-carrying trailers, enabling it to move enormous 36-meter steel pipe strings and monolithic block-and-pump stations weighing up to 120–150 tons over completely off-road conditions. The "Koloss" was a rare bird in Siberia—only a couple of dozen units were sold to the Soviet Union.
In total, the contract to supply FAUN to the USSR Ministry of Oil and Gas Construction cost the USSR 100-115 million German marks, equivalent to approximately $240-270 million in 2026 dollars. This was a time of heavy spending on imported equipment. As a reminder, 10 Magirus vehicles for the Baikal-Amur Mainline cost 1,1 billion marks.
Without dwelling on the praise for the vehicles—it's clear that the FAUN was a cut above its domestic counterparts—let's look at the shortcomings of these heavy-duty trucks. The downside of the vehicle's main advantage—a reliable air-cooled Deutz diesel engine—was the incredibly loud, whistling roar of its giant fan. On Siberian winter roads, a loaded FAUN could be heard several kilometers away, exhausting the crew during hours-long journeys. Furthermore, the vehicle required the highest level of skill: the slightest error by the driver when selecting the operating mode of the complex ZF WSK torque converter on an icy incline could completely lock up and stop the 100-ton road train.
In the harsh conditions of Samotlor and Urengoy, despite the overall quality of assembly, rubber components, brake seals, and sensors would periodically fail. Since every penny-worth part and consumable was purchased in Germany, strictly with scarce foreign currency, via Moscow, a simple leaking seal or clogged filter could mean these rare and expensive vehicles would sit idle for months awaiting supplies.
Finally, the multi-cylinder power unit, in the harsh Siberian off-road conditions, had a colossal, almost unlimited appetite for diesel fuel, which meant that the standard fuel tanks were sometimes barely sufficient to cover the challenging route between bases. When towing heavy trailers in difficult road conditions, the fuel consumption of the smaller FAUN reached 150–160 liters per 100 km. The larger 455-horsepower engine was able to consume 180 liters per 100 km in cruising mode.
Restored archival photos clearly identifying an American Kenworth 953. The location was Glavtyumenneftegaz in Nizhnevartovsk. Late 70s - early 80s.
History The import of FAUN to the USSR is fairly well known in certain circles. The same cannot be said for the American Kenworth 953 trucks that ended up at Samotlor in the late 70s and early 80s. All this clearly smacked of a fake or an artificial intelligence hallucination. But no – there are at least two photographs of a gigantic Kenworth 953 truck in the Siberian oil fields. Apparently, the truck (or trucks) were registered to the Glavtyumenneftegaz motor transport office in Nizhnevartovsk.
Kenworth 953
The Kenworth 953 is an American super-heavy-duty truck, earning a reputation as one of the most rugged and massive conventional trucks in global automotive history. Produced by PACCAR from 1958 to 2005, this model was originally designed not for public roads, but as a highly specialized, high-tech chassis for extreme off-road use. The 953's primary battlefield was the vast sandy deserts of the Middle East and North Africa, where for decades it held the title of the premier heavy equipment hauler for the oil and gas industry.
The vehicle's technical design was driven by two primary objectives: transporting monolithic loads weighing up to 100-150 tons and avoiding sinking in quicksand. To achieve this, the truck was equipped with a colossally strong frame, massive Clark or Rockwell drive axles, and 6x6 all-wheel drive. To distribute the vehicle's enormous weight on unstable ground, the Kenworth 953 was equipped with gigantic, wide-profile, low-pressure single-wheel tires with a diameter of approximately two meters. Under the enormous hood were Cummins, Detroit Diesel, or Caterpillar industrial diesel engines with outputs ranging from 400 to 600 horsepower, paired with Allison semi-automatic or hydromechanical transmissions.
The overall width of this heavy-duty vehicle exceeded 3,5 meters, making it impossible to operate on regular asphalt roads without a special escort. The main buyers and operators of these vehicles were multinational corporations such as Saudi Arabia's Aramco. The Kenworth 953 was used to transport enormous, indivisible loads: entire drilling rig assemblies, heavy pipe strings, hydraulic fracturing pumping stations, and well plugging tanks. Drivers nicknamed these vehicles "desert kings" for their ability to tow multi-ton trailers across dunes in temperatures exceeding 50°C. How this giant ended up in Western Siberia, especially during Soviet times, remains a mystery.
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