Tank idler wheels?

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Luke R

They are very close dimensions to that of idlers of Lee,Grant,Sherman chassis, so are they a rarer style of idler wheel in the fairly large collection to suit these tanks.
Or is it just a fluke that the dimensions are so close and they have nothing to do with tanks at all?

Luke,

The idler wheel on M3 and M4 series Medium tanks did not have a rubber rim:
sherman_idler_wheel3.JPG

The road (or: bogie) wheels did, but I have never seen that style now on Ebay on Lee/Grant/Sherman before.
m4a2_1.JPG

I suspect the ones on Ebay were for another application - note that solid rubber wheels were not only/specifically designed and manufactured for use on tanks!

HTH,
Hanno