Published on: 2026-07-15
Source: KAMAZ – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
At the KAMAZ Foundry Plant, a technology for manufacturing an integral cast axle housing was developed.
According to Timur Gazizov, the chief specialist in cylinder block technology at the Foundry Plant, the steel axle housing for the KAMAZ K3 generation consists of several parts. Before welding it into a single unit, the Automotive Plant carries out machining of each element. “This is a complex and labor-intensive technological process. Moreover, a welded structure is less strong than a single-cast casting, so KAMAZ management set the task of developing an alternative,” Timur Gazizov said.
Together with the chief design engineer of the Foundry Plant, Salavat Askarov, and the chief specialist in housing parts of assemblies at the Research and Technology Center, Stanislav Kostin, Gazizov began addressing this task in December 2025. They took as a basis a 3D model of a standard welded bridge housing, consisting of three parts, combined them, and reduced the wall thickness by almost half — from 15 to 8 mm. They refined two holes for the U-bolts that hold the springs. Previously, these were thin cast parts welded to the bridge, which could deform under load. Now these elements are already part of a single cast structure, which simplifies machining.
“Speaking about casting technology, the monolithic bridge in the mold was placed vertically, not horizontally as it was before. This eliminates warping (bends, waves, and bulges on the casting). Slopes were added, and the geometry was changed to remove thermal nodes — those areas of the casting that cool or solidify more slowly., – he said Timur Gazizov. – We chose two grades of high-strength cast iron to see which one would be better suited.
Then the team modeled the castings and began making the tooling. The entire process was simplified as much as possible – the tooling patterns were made of plastic, and the cores were 3D printed for cast iron casting production. In January, they received the first samples, which were acceptable: they met all the required parameters, and no shrinkage defects were found.
According to Stanislav Kostin, the weight of the monolithic casting is 20% less compared to the serial steel version. And the use of cast iron allows an increase in the load on the crankcase by 11%. At the same time, the monolithic version can withstand more than 2 million cycles. “As a result, we get a finished casting that just needs to be machined and installed for assembly,” Timur Gazizov concluded.
Five monolithic bridges were manufactured at the Foundry Plant. They are currently undergoing bench tests at the Scientific and Technical Center of PJSC KAMAZ.
Please note; This information is raw content obtained directly from the source of information. It is an accurate report of what the source asserts and does not necessarily reflect the position of MIL-OSI or its clients.