How far can you tow a tank on it's road wheels?

[Tim the Tank Nut]

replying to Tim Sielbeck:

We almost always used a tow bar for moving something broken because it could steer both ways.  I only did a little with tow cables.  I guess we only had six total and they were always a headache.  The attachment lugs and cable ends had two different sizes in our stuff so you had to grab the right components to get it all to work.  I never liked the tow cables.

A long time ago we participated in a show in Texas at a famous military museum.  We were using their equipment.  The tank quit due to inadequate battery capacity.  We had two crews there so I signaled my other crew for a pull start and dismounted the tow cable.  The show was in process at this time.  We pull started the tank and finished with all the electrics off (even the interphone and that is a sin).  The locals were very upset that we used a vintage tow cable as a tow cable.

We should bought a Ward LaFrance wrecker to take everywhere...

[Stuart Galbraith]

I cant imagine getting new tow cables cut to historic lengths is very cheap in this day and age.

[rmgill]

Not really. We have a tow cable on Vandal that's been used a bit, but it I think a very post war example. Pretty basic. Steel rope with a thimble eye and crimped section.  We use the forged rings, chains and u-shackels more for loading and unloading for transport. But that's all in the low load factor range. Easy to inspect.