Abstract: An amphibious vehicle has a body with front and rear portions, opposite sides and a bottom. The vehicle includes at least one pair of wheels, each wheel being located adjacent a respective side, and a wheel mounting structure for moving the respective wheel between raised and lowered positions thereof. Thus, when the wheels are in the raised position, lower portions of the wheels are raised above the bottom, providing clearance when the vehicle is used in water, and when in the lowered position thereof, the lower portions of the wheels are below the bottom to support the vehicle on a bearing surface. Preferably, the vehicle has two pairs of wheels, and each pair can be moved independently of the remaining pair. For some uses, the wheels of each pair could be moved independently of each other.

Abstract: The invention provides a crawler track belt assembly with flexible parallel belts interconnected by transverse grouser bars. The bars have guide portions spaced transversely apart and mutually aligned longitudinally with guide portions of other bars. A track bed of the vehicle has parallel, longitudinally extending, guide grooves which receive and guide the guide portions of the belt to maintain track alignment. To reduce belt tension, the lower track bed has a lateral profile which resembles a catenary. The vehicle body has spaced sponsons defining a hull tunnel therebetween, and in water is powered by a water jet having a primary intake adjacent the tunnel roof. If the primary intake becomes blocked, a secondary intake on the track bed is swept by the crawler track belt assembly to maintain the secondary nozzle free of obstruction. The water jet discharges through a rotatable nozzle which can be directed to assist in clearing the primary intake of blockage.