When did tank controls change?

[OrcFace_McStompYou]

From my understanding, it used to be that steering a tank was controlled by two brake levers, one for each track. Brake the left track, go left, etc. Now, steering is done through a wheel similar to a car with computerized control system handling the braking of the tracks. Anyone know when this change was made or which tank was the first one with the new system? Google has failed me on the matter.

[Rooster90]

Couldn't give you a year, but sometime during later Bradley and Abrams iterations. So, probably in the last 10 - 15 years.

Edited April 30, 2011 by Rooster90

[PANiC]

The Tiger was the first German tank to have an actual steering wheel, but was it the first? i dont know. this was 1943 btw

 

http://www.alanhamby.com/transmission.shtml

[PANiC]

looks like the MK A Whippet used a steering wheel to, Brit tank from 1917! : http://www.landships.freeservers.com/whippet_info.htm

[Durka-Durka~SPARTA~]

The MK A Whippet...

 

 

...And Whippet good.

[OrcFace_McStompYou]

Good to know, thanks.

[iron]

The MK A Whippet......And Whippet good.

 

 

Lol'd hard on this one.

[Steel~Sparta~]

I can tell you from personal experance the M1 abrams series of tanks have never used brake handles. The m1 uses a handle bar (called the T-Bar) for the driver to steer the tank with. It is very simular to a motorcycle in the sense that the thottle is on the handle itself. Brakes are at you feet. Transmission selector is in the center of the handle.

[Durka-Durka~SPARTA~]

Were you a tanker Steel? I always liked the look of things, but they were too stuffy for me.

[Steel~Sparta~]

Were you a tanker Steel? I always liked the look of things, but they were too stuffy for me.

 

Yes I was... I primarly Drove and Loaded I was stationed at Fort Riley KS

[SirSmokalot]

Understanding how a tank steers with a wheel

 

M88A2 (and other M88's) Hercules, M109, M992, M2 Alphas etc use Steering wheels, but you don't steer it the same way you steer a car though, depending on the degree of the turn depended on how it interacts with the transmission. Yes the transmission is what steers a tank. Either giving power or even locking a track or even reverse motion of tracks.

 

First, think of turning the wheel and maxing at either 9 or 3 on a clock. Now imagine that for every hour marking in that range that will in turn cause a different effect on how the tank will turn.

 

 

Taking that idea further I'll explain:

 

 

In Motion-

In this example think of the tank in motion with some power applied to the throttle using a wheel type control, not brake sticks. Also understand that a track vehicle transmission is very very very (...did i say very?) complex compared to a truck or wheeled vehicle "tranny".

 

While in motion a slight turn to the left (say 11:00) bleeds off power to the left track causing it to curve to the left. Now imagine turning to 10:00, this is where power is non existent and the right track drives the tank causing it to curve more to a degree.

 

Now depending on the drastic turn of the wheel will depend on the degree of the curve, to a point.

 

Now this is where it gets a little complex. While in motion an extreme turn to the left in most track vehicles this will start to increase a braking effect on the left track in this example.

 

You never want to at "speed" turn drastically (turning all the way to 9:00) as this will "break track" not to mention this also depends on the terrain. Tanks are not race cars and shouldn't be expected to turn on a dime.

 

In addition extreme terrain conditions if not careful can cause the track to hop off. I'll get more into "breaking track at the end.

 

 

Stopped and not in motion-

 

Usually this is at a stopped state and the transmission is put in 1st gear. But this isn't the case in all track vehicles. Beyond popular belief tanks are not standardized. There are some chassis similarities and technology, but most aren't built equally. S what one does in 1st may also do in 2nd and 3rd gears as well.

 

Besides what can be done in certain gears, there's certain features that can be different between certain vehicles as some vehicles may not have a "traverse" feature. Most battle tanks and recovery vehicles have this feature out of necessity.

 

Traversing and how its done-

At a complete stop, a complete turn to the left with a slight application of the brakes and with a modest amount of throttle (think two foot use, opposed to normal driving in a car). The tracks will start to oppose in movement causing the vehicle to spin in place or otherwise called "traverse". This is handy feature when trying to turn in a tight spot. Also if your vehicle doesn't have the proper tension of the track, this can cause breaking track as well.

 

Breaking Track and the reality of track vehicles-

 

My experience:

I've broke track 3 times in my time with the US Army, 1) sprocket disintegrated at 35mph (which is fast in a track vehicle BTW), 2)traversed on some real loose ground and dirt get in between track and road wheels in training, was purposeful as our trainer wanted us to see what happens. 3) wrecked my '88 on a moonless night trying to use NVG's. We were in a battle exercise and needed to get a to a "gun" (M109A6) that had been disabled and our Battalion was being observed and scored at the time. We were flying across what seemed like fairly flat terrain until we came across a 5ft deep dry creekbed at 30-35mph. 64 tons doesn't drop 5ft well even at a weird angle. The track broke in the worst way possible, on the inside!

 

Its not fun fixing track as track is very very heavy and not fun to play around with! "Breaking track" or literally breaking track, there's a difference. "Breaking track" is where the track falls off the track guides (small wheels under the top portion of the track), road wheels and sprocket. In these cases you usually need to either repair some road wheels, or track usually, if you don't you got lucky! See the track is tensioned to a great deal of torque in order to keep the track from falling off at speed or when "turning", so breaking track whether literal or not its a pretty violent thing considering the heavy duty mechanics involved.

 

Literally "breaking track" is usually due to either bad driving & bad judgement, defective parts, or wrecking. Sometimes a combination of the 3. Breaking track is where the critical parts like the sprocket gets sheered and breaks off into fragments or you loose a tooth on it.In other cases you have a road wheel that its rubberized contact with the track has been obliterated from a large rock or debris and causes the track to break off. Another such case is where the track linkage fails or you take a hit in the tracks.

 

I hope this helps you guys understand the reality of track vehicles and how they are driven with a "wheel". Alot of this applies also to "brake sticks" and how they are used. But these are rarely in use only ones I know of are M113 family of track vehicles and maybe older battle tanks before the m60. The M88 was a derived off the M60 hull greatly so I doubt it had sticks.

Edited May 2, 2011 by SirSmokalot