Talk:Tank steering systems

• Did you know... that the steering system on the Saint-Chamond tank (pictured) weighed five tons?

Hi, somewhere I stumbled over a tank that steers by first bending the tracks by shifting the front wheels to one or the other side for slight curves and for sharp curving a brake sets in. But I cannot find which tank right now. Ciao --Pentaclebreaker (talk) 08:00, 29 April 2020 (UTC) [reply ]

Light Tank Mk VII Tetrarch for one.GraemeLeggett (talk) 06:51, 21 June 2020 (UTC) [reply ]

This is a good idea for an article, but without diagrams illustrating the systems being described it's not worth much. A person who isn't already somewhat familiar with the topic can't really visualize a double controlled differential and how the steering shaft and drive shaft work together just from reading a brief description. It's better than nothing, but it could be a lot better.

Idumea47b (talk) 03:25, 23 August 2020 (UTC) [reply ]

The article is pretty good for a very general overview but unfortunately there are several incorrect statements. eg - the described action of controlled differentials is not really what happens, the Merrit-Brown triple 'differential' systems is not 'continuously variable' - it has a single radius of turn for each gear - unless undesirable brake slipping is employed. The post war and modern western systems are closely functionally equivalent to variations of the Merrit-Brown type. The most recent commonly used versions - in abrahms, challenger, leopard etc add a hydrostatic controlled variable ratio to the secendary inputs to the superimposed steering units. Most of the power still goes through more efficient gear trains though. The super-imposition units are not really differentials (this term makes people think they are like what is in car axles) - they are planetary gear-sets which have a 'differntial' action. The hydro-kinetic devices (torque converters) are used between engine and the transmission in the normal way but do not contribute to steering. Many lighter tracked vehicles like personnel carriers and self propelled artillery use different steering modes - include brake slipping - in different situations and speed regimes. In the situatio of deliberate brake/clutch slipping the steering unit control mechanisms usually provide extra cooling for these - often by increasing the lubricating oil supply to the relevant components. Even the recent electric drives mostly use similar superimposed drive systems for steering. They are not like RC toys with each motor directly geared to its own track. 'neutral steer' is a poor and imprecise term - counter-rotation is the proper technical description. Several tracked vehicles which can counter-rotate the tracks cannot do so when in neutral ! 79.73.20.191 (talk) 09:54, 25 April 2023 (UTC) [reply ]