Vertical volute spring suspension

This type of the suspension system was mainly fitted on US and Italian tanks and armored fighting vehicles starting from throughout the 1930s up until after the end of the Second World War in 1945.

[citation needed] These included rubber-bushed tracks, rear mounted radial engines and the vertical volute spring suspension.

Design features of the Stuart were scaled up for use in the first M2 medium tanks which would evolve into the more successful M3 Lee and M4 Sherman, all using the VVSS.

Battle experience showed that the service life of the original vertical volute spring suspension (VVSS) of the late model M4 was shortening due to the tank's increasing combat weight with larger guns and heavier armor.

Beginning in mid-1944, M4A3 models of the Sherman adopted a newly developed Horizontal Volute Spring Suspension (HVSS).

U.S. Vertical volute spring suspension (AMCP 706-355)
The vertical volute-springs of the American Stuart tank .
An American M2 Light Tank using the vertical volute spring system. The springs are just visible behind the rectangular covers.
The VVSS system of an M32 Tank Recovery Vehicle (ARV) on display at the Yad La-Shiryon military museum in Latrun in Israel.
The HVSS system of an Israeli M51 Super Sherman tank.