The K-700 is a Soviet general purpose wheeled tractor of high cross-country ability, traction class 5. The tractor is designed for agricultural, transportation, road-building, land reclamation, earthmoving and other works in combination with mounted, semi-mounted and trailed wide-grip machines. Chief designer – Joseph Kotin.
Specifications K-700:
- Length, mm 7400
- Width, mm 2800
- Speed when moving forward 2.9 – 44.8 kilometers per hour
- Speedswhen moving backwards 5.1 – 24.3 kilometers per hour
- Minimum turning radius, mm 7200
- Track width, mm 2115
- Engine power YAMZ-240B 300 hp, at a speed of 1900 min-1. Maximum torque 1240 Nm.
- Weight 13 tons.
The K-700 increased agricultural productivity by 2.5 to 3 times compared to other tractors. Like many other types of machinery in the USSR during the Cold War, the K-700 was developed as a dual-purpose product: in wartime it was supposed to be used as an artillery tractor.
The production of the new machine, named Kirovets, was organized at the Kirov Plant in Leningrad, the oldest tractor-building enterprise in the USSR. The first tractor left the assembly shop and entered the country’s fields in 1962. Mass serial production of the K-700 was launched in 1969.
There is no clutch clutch on the K-700 tractor. Instead, there is a drain pedal (pressure drop in the transmission hydraulic system). The gearbox is mechanical, with constant mesh gears, 16-speed (four-mode), with hydraulic control by four frictions and mechanical control by gear clutches. All gears are spur gears. Number of gears (hydraulic) 4 (+2 neutral), 4 modes (mechanical), shifting overdrive – underdrive. The resulting number of speeds is 16 (1.1 to 4.4) and correspondingly 8 reverse. The box is designed to shift speeds without loss of power (due to friction). The modes are switched by moving the clutches as in any manual gearbox. The speeds are switched by switching the spool (by redirecting the hydraulic oil flow). 2nd neutral disconnects the hydraulic flow. In addition to disconnecting the hydraulic flow, 1st neutral mechanically brakes the drive shaft (friction shaft) in the gearbox like a handbrake. Therefore, 1st neutral may only be engaged when the vehicle is at a standstill.
Modifications K-700:
- K-700 – basic model.
- K-700A – the next model (unified with K-701, turbocharged YAMZ-238ND3 engine).
- K-701 – the next model (unified with K-700A, YAMZ-240BM2 engine).
- K-701M – a modification with a YAMZ 8423.10 engine with an output of 335 hp. In 1979, the drivers-inventors from Chukotka built four six-wheeled machines on the basis of K-700, which 10 years later served as prototypes for the experimental factory modification.
- K-702 – industrial modification for use as a base machine for loaders, bulldozers, rollers, scrapers: the linkage system has been changed, only hydromechanical transmission is used, the suspension is rigid.
- K-703 is an industrial modification. The tractor has a reversible control post, which allows the operator to work in a normal posture both when the tractor is moving forward and when the tractor is moving backward.
- K-703MT is a three-axle articulated dump truck with payload capacity of 18 tons.
- K-708UDM is a universal road machine with increased power and work productivity.
