tracks greatly improve a vehicle's off-road performance,especially on mud,snow. or other unreliable surfaces. But how well a vehicle moves on its tracks depends largely on its wheels
Strange as it may seem, wheels are no less important for tracked vehicles than they are for a car or truck. Firstly, they provide power to the tracks and keep them from falling off. Secondly, they can be suspended in order to improve the flotation of the vehicle, which describes how well the suspension handles obstacles. A suspension that adapts well to rough terrain provides good flotation, reducing the shock transferred to the vehicle as it moves
Let's discuss the basic wheel system. The simplest wheel system consists of two sprocket wheels per track, as shown in Figure 16-13 Usually about half of such a wheel comes in contact with the track, more than any other wheel in the system-which is why it's importhat that these wheels are those that drive the tracks. Usually only one sprocket