What if Germany had designed their tanks to be less maintenance heavy and more like the panzer three and four? Torsion bar suspension system instead of an interleaved suspension?
Mk III used Torsion Bars, but to a standard bogie.
Besides the interleaved sets, the German heavies used double torsion bars, they couldn't make a single bar handle the weight, unlike the Soviets till very late in the war.
But it's best to skip torsion bars. Go for leaf springs, like on the Mk II, Mk IV and 38T.
You get worse ride and less suspension travel, but is cheap and easy to work on
Next, most of the Maybach were pretty high strung, high RPMs to make up for low displacement of 1,409 cu in. 3000rpm to get 690hp. The Ford GAA V8 was 1100 cu. in, 2600rpm to get 500hp
Go for the Soviet route, the V-2 was 2,368 cu.in and made 500 HP@1800 rpm with 14 point compression. A low compression Diesel. Can run on gas, drop the compression to around 7:1
The Hall Scott Defender V-12 was 2181 cu. in, and did 630 HP at 2100 rpm on gas
Do the blocks in iron. heavy but more durable.
The Germans can use their BMW VI engine as a base. Do it in iron. 2,864 cu in. 670 HP at 1700rpm with 7.5 C/R on 87 octane.
Don't need 670 hp? split it to a 6 cylinder and you get 330hp-- perfect for early Panzer IV
For transaxle, stick with Clutch and Brake for the Diff. Yes, your Drivers will hate you, and veteran drivers will look like Popeye with misshapen limbs from wrestling with the controls, but hey, it's durable and cheap to build.
If you want to make it a bit easier on them, license the Cletrac setup from US bulldozers in the early '30s. Bulletproof.
In essence yes but with bigger guns as the war goes on
They can do better, but of course, it all ends in August 1945