gp130 is the common signal transducing receptor subunit of interleukin (IL)‐6‐type cytokines. gp130 either homodimerizes in response to IL‐6 and IL‐11 or forms heterodimers with the leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) receptor (LIFR) in response to LIF, oncostatin M (OSM), ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), cardiotrophin‐1 (CT‐1) or cardiotrophin‐like cytokine resulting in the onset of cytoplasmic tyrosine phosphorylation cascades. The extracellular parts of both gp130 and LIFR consist of several Ig‐like and fibronectin type III‐like domains. The role of the membrane‐distal domains of gp130 (D1, D2, D3) and LIFR in ligand binding is well established. In this study we investigated the functional significance of the membrane‐proximal domains of gp130 (D4, D5, D6) in respect to heterodimerization with LIFR. Deletion of each of the membrane‐proximal domains of gp130 (Δ4, Δ5 and Δ6) leads to LIF unresponsiveness. Replacement of the gp130 domains by the corresponding domains of the related GCSF receptor either restores weak LIF responsiveness (D4‐GCSFR), leads to constitutive activation of gp130 (D5‐GCSFR) or results in an inactive receptor (D6‐GCSFR). Mutation of a specific cysteine in D5 of gp130 (C458A) leads to constitutive heterodimerization with the LIFR and increased sensitivity towards LIF stimulation. Based on these findings, a functional model of the gp130–LIFR heterodimer is proposed that includes contacts between D5 of gp130 and the corresponding domain D7 of the LIFR and highlights the requirement for both receptor dimerization and adequate receptor orientation as a prerequisite for signal transduction.