Weaknesses/Downsides of the E-Series Belleville washer suspension units?

[ThatZenoGuy]

These strange and un-typical suspension units were made for the E-Series of tanks Germany was potentially going to use. Rather than torsion bars or leaf springs they operated with stacked washers operated by a rack and pinion which was connected to the axles of the wheels.

Currently my knowledge is aware of at least one issue, namely the length of travel the axles can have. Relative to torsion bars they cannot move as far, and therefore cross-country performance and obstacle crossing will be affected. However I am curious on how limited these units were compared to the Sherman's bogeys and the Christie suspension of the T-34.

I have seen people discuss these suspsension units and they came up with some interesting ideas.

Firstly they suggested the alleged low quality steels of latewar Germany would result in these units being unreliable, washers breaking, etc.

Secondly it was brought up that the overlapping of the wheels would be an issue with mud, ice, maintaining them, etc.

Lastly the teeth in the rack and pinion were pointed out to be areas of concern, they could strip, break, etc. Again compounded by the alleged steel quality.

Does anyone else have any information or thoughts? I would love to hear them.

[jsplicer9]

As far as I know, the Belleville Washer system was used successfully in some Swiss tank designs such as the Panzer 58. I'm not sure if metallurgical deficiencies would compromise the Belleville Washer system, I feel as though if one can produce torsion bar and leaf spring units, washers shouldn't be an issue.

[critical mass]

The key asset of this System was its ability to store large amounts of energy compared to other suspensions and doing it under less constraint of unit scale, making them suitable for heavy Tanks. Torsion bars offered more wheel travel but stored less energy. Christies was acceptable only for tanks up to 30t as it scaled up quickly with energy load.

[ThatZenoGuy]

The key asset of this System was its ability to store large amounts of energy compared to other suspensions and doing it under less constraint of unit scale, making them suitable for heavy Tanks. Torsion bars offered more wheel travel but stored less energy. Christies was acceptable only for tanks up to 30t as it scaled up quickly with energy load.

What exactly do you mean by 'store large amounts of energy'? As in 'can keep a lot of weight suspended'?