combatreform.org/m113combat.htm

1. M113 Super Gavin
T150 Track Shoe Extensions
“duck bills”
In WW2, M4 Sherman tanks as extra
armor was added lost mobility due to
narrow tracks, resulting in battle and
Soldier losses. “Duck Bill” extensions
helped regain mobility. Today’s M8
Buford/Thunderbolt/Tracer AGS and
M113 Super Gavins with extra armor
need their tracks widened to
compensate for add-on armor and
improve mobility in mud, snow/ice and
water. A reversible rubber pad with a
metal core extending out with a mud and
water swimming tread and an snow/ice
tread on the opposite side could achieve
this. M4 Sherman tank
snow/ice tread
mud and water swimming tread

2. U.S. Army Light Infantry Needs M113 Gavin Light Tracked Armored
Fighting Vehicles for go-anywhere-in-the-world mobility
Falklands War decision: what would U.S. light infantry do? Brigadier Julian
Thompson in his book, No Picnic on page 11 writes:
"I was decided at an early stage in planning to take the minimum number of
wheeled vehicles. The going anywhere in the Falklands away from the
settlements was so bad that even a lightly loaded Landrover would be lucky to
cover four miles an hour. Vehicles loaded with ammunition and stores would be
lucky to move at all. The Brigade did have seventy-six of its BV202 oversnow
vehicles in England, the remainder being stockpiled in Norway. Although
designed to operate over snow there was a good chance that these vehicles
with a ground pressure of only 1 1/2 lbs per square inch, about that of a man on
skis, would be able to motor across the peat bog. Events were to prove they
could."
How many tracked vehicles do U.S. Army light infantry units
have now?
ZERO.
They have lots of 3-ton Humvee and 10-ton LMTV and FMTV trucks, why not
10-ton M113 Gavin light tracks? We have THOUSANDS in storage.

3. M113 Super Gavin
T150 Track Shoe Extensions
“duck bills”
In WW2, M4 Sherman tanks as extra
armor was added lost mobility due to
narrow tracks, resulting in battle and
Soldier losses. “Duck Bill” extensions
helped regain mobility. Today’s M8
Buford/Thunderbolt/Tracer AGS and
M113 Super Gavins with extra armor
need their tracks widened to
compensate for add-on armor and
improve mobility in mud, snow/ice and
water. A reversible rubber pad with a
metal core extending out with a mud and
water swimming tread and an snow/ice
tread on the opposite side could achieve
this. M4 Sherman tank
snow/ice tread
mud and water swimming tread

4. “It had rained practically every day and the ground was saturated, making movement by
tanks and other armored vehicle extremely difficult. The inability of our medium tanks to
negotiate soft ground had been recognized some time before, and field service
modification kits had been sent forward to be installed on the tanks. The kits consisted of
three-inch-wide steel grousers, which were attached to the track connectors on each track
block on both sides. This gave an overall width of twenty inches compared to thirty and
thirty-six inches on German tank tracks. I contacted Dick Johnson with the 33rd
Maintenance and arranged to have their supply truck pick up the boxes of grousers at the
ordnance battalion headquarters company. The grousers finally got down to the tank
crews, who installed them on their own tanks. The tank crews were enthusiastic about the
grousers, which did help somewhat, but the ground was so completely saturated that the
grousers only partially solved the problem. Our tanks still got stuck easily. The problem
was that the grousers were designed so they did not come in full contact with the ground
until the tank had already penetrated the outer crust. Thus, the breakthrough of the crust
had already occurred and the tank could still sink down further due to the shearing action.
I’d venture to say that the fields around Kornelimunster, Mausbach, and Breinig
are still filled with left-over grousers and spare locknuts.”
--Former U.S. Army 1st LT Belton Cooper in Death traps: the Survival of an American Armored Division in WW2,
pages 153-154
MkVI Tiger M4 Sherman
heavy tank medium tank
30-36 inches 17 inches

5. WW2 “Duck Bills” on track connectors not aggressive
enough to expand track width to lower ground pressure
proposed duck bills from rubber road pads will drastically
increase surface area width...

6. Snow/Ice Improved Mobility!
In Water
2X increase
in track width =
1/2 ground
pressure
from 9 PSI to
4.5 PSI
On Mud & Sand!

7. Snow/Ice Improved Mobility!
In Water
2X increase
in track width =
1/2 ground
pressure
from 9 PSI to
4.5 PSI
On Mud & Sand!