This one doesn’t appear to have them all, but the little rollers in the front were normally accompanied by a mirror image set at the very back of the frame, as well as another set amidships, between the front and back main axles of the vehicle, the idea behind that being that while traversing a trench, ditch, or other place where a sharp difference in ground height might cause the vehicle to ‘high center’, it might come to rest on these rollers instead of the bumpers, frame, or body, and thus easier to free from its ensnarement, whether by hand, an assisting vehicle, a team of mules, or even possibly under its own power, which four wheel drive made possible. Why this was never mentioned I cannot imagine, nor was it mentioned in the Wikipedia articles about these ‘gun tractors ‘ … I had to dig pretty deep to get even the most cursory explanation for these. I guess it must be self-explanatory to everyone but me … wouldn’t be the first time … so I decided to post my conclusions as a comment for the benefit of all my fellow ignorami, if any.
Unique en france
I still don’t get it … what are the little wheels and axle in the front for?
This one doesn’t appear to have them all, but the little rollers in the front were normally accompanied by a mirror image set at the very back of the frame, as well as another set amidships, between the front and back main axles of the vehicle, the idea behind that being that while traversing a trench, ditch, or other place where a sharp difference in ground height might cause the vehicle to ‘high center’, it might come to rest on these rollers instead of the bumpers, frame, or body, and thus easier to free from its ensnarement, whether by hand, an assisting vehicle, a team of mules, or even possibly under its own power, which four wheel drive made possible. Why this was never mentioned I cannot imagine, nor was it mentioned in the Wikipedia articles about these ‘gun tractors ‘ … I had to dig pretty deep to get even the most cursory explanation for these. I guess it must be self-explanatory to everyone but me … wouldn’t be the first time … so I decided to post my conclusions as a comment for the benefit of all my fellow ignorami, if any.