The Csepel D-344 is a medium size, 3-tonne, 4×4 off-road

lorry A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

, made by Hungarian manufacturer Csepel Autógyár, from 1961 to 1975. It was first presented to the public on the

Leipzig Trade Fair The Leipzig Trade Fair (german: Leipziger Messe) is a major trade fair, which traces its roots back for nearly a millennium. After the Second World War, Leipzig fell within the territory of East Germany, whereupon the Leipzig Trade Fair became o ...

in early 1963. The

Hungarian People's Army The Hungarian People's Army ( hu, Magyar Néphadsereg) or the HPA was the military of the Hungarian People's Republic and the armed branch of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party from 1951 to 1990. It only saw combat in a foreign country once du ...

purchased huge quantities of the D-344, and eventually used it as their standard lorry. It proved to be robust and reliable.

Description

The Csepel D-344 uses a welded ladder frame, and has two permanently driven,

leaf-sprung A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, i ...

live axle A beam axle, rigid axle or solid axle is a dependent suspension design in which a set of wheels is connected laterally by a single beam or shaft. Beam axles were once commonly used at the rear wheels of a vehicle, but historically they have als ...

s. The front axle has single wheels, whereas the rear axle has twin wheels. All wheels are of the size 9.00–20.00 in. In its standard configuration, the D-344 has a ground clearance of 270 mm and a fording depth of 800 mm. The D-344 has a pneumatic braking system with

drum brake A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press outward against a rotating cylinder-shaped part called a brake drum. The term ''drum brake'' usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surfac ...

s on all wheels. The ramp angle is 35° on the front axle, and 25° on the rear axle; the maximum gradeability is 44%. The Csepel D-344 is powered by a Csepel D-414H naturally aspirated, 5.5-litre,

precombustion chamber Indirect injection in an internal combustion engine is fuel injection where fuel is not directly injected into the combustion chamber. Gasoline engines equipped with indirect injection systems, wherein a fuel injector delivers the fuel at some po ...

injected, straight four-cylinder

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

. It produces a maximum torque of at 1500/min, and has a rated power output of at 2300/min. Its minimum fuel consumption is rated at 2000/min. (All figures according to DIN 70020). The torque is transmitted from the engine to the manual five-speed gearbox with a single-disc dry

clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts). ...

. The transfer gearbox that sends torque to both the front and rear axles also includes the differential for the front axle. Therefore, the D-344 has two

drive shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power (physics), power and torque and rotation, usually ...

s that send the torque from the transfer gearbox to the front axle, one for each wheel. This design was chosen to allow for a lower engine mounting point and thus a lower centre of gravity. The transfer gearbox has a differential lock in order to increase the D-344's off-road capabilities. With its mass of 5700 kg (DIN 70030; includes 215 litres of fuel and a 75 kg driver), the Csepel D-344 can reach a top speed of 82 km/h. The fuel consumption is rated 28.7 L/100 km. The standard payload is 3000 kg; in addition to that, the D-344 can pull trailers with a mass of up to 2000 kg. Military versions of the D-344 were equipped with a front winch.

Types

The Csepel D-344 was built in several different types:Magyar Jarmu:
Csepel teherautók
', retrieved 31 January 2020 (in Hungarian) *D-344.00: Standard military flatbed variant, built from 1961 to 1966 *D-344.01: Like the D-344.00, but without opening side panels *D-344.02: Civilian variant, no winch, but greater payload *D-344.05: D-344-based fire engine *D-344.22: Tropical type with better engine cooling, double-roof, and balloon tyres

External links

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References

Csepel trucks