Why the USSR used to put wheels on tractors backwards: only a few know

On old Soviet tractors, you can notice an interesting - not production - feature. They have their wheels reversed. The tractor drivers themselves "modified" the vehicles by moving the wheels with the rims inward.

This was not an isolated practice - often in state farms and collective farms, workers turned the wheels of tractors en masse. OBOZ.UA figured out what the benefits were.

Tractor operators once noticed that if you move the wheels inward with the rim, the track is very wide.

A tractor is a tall and unstable machine. The maximum roll of most models is about 40°. However, when driving across the field, tractor drivers are advised not to allow a roll of more than 10-15°. This is necessary for safety reasons - the vehicle can even roll over on uneven ground.

In hilly areas, fields are usually plowed along the slope - horizontally, not from top to bottom. This is to prevent the formation of ravines. In such cases, the tractors drive with a significant roll, and to increase stability, the rear wheels are simply rearranged.

The track actually becomes wider, because the wheel rim has a convex shape, and the surface with which it is attached to the plane does not coincide with the diametric plane of the tire, but is slightly to the side of it.

If the wheels are repositioned, the convex side of the wheel rims will face the tractor instead of outward, so the track widens.

But there are two serious drawbacks to an excessively wide track: the dimensions of the tractor increase, so it becomes less stable on the course and more risky.

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