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I expected a different response from you Joseph!
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5 ton towing a 55 ton tank
- Thread starter davesgmc
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Chow717
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You've got to video this event!!
roscoe
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I'd be careful you don't damage the road. The Amish down the road from me pulled a steel wheeled logging crane about a mile down the road and left huge gouges in the pavement. It was pretty obvious where it came from and where it went. I believe the county made them pay for repairs.
Oooohhh, it that why all those Amish fireplace commercials were on TV this winter . . . poor guys have had to work mainstream to pay for road repairs! LOL
May I suggest a second truck on the rear of the tank to serve as an anchor (or at least a drogue) if need be?
And, uh, yeah, X's a million on the video!
armytruck63
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We moved some big planes with dueces once. Here is an excert from an article I wrote for our club newsletter:
The B-29 had sat in an open field for many months, developing flat spots in the foam filled tires, and also sinking slightly into the field. One deuce could not move the load, and we did not have five tons of junk on hand to load the deuce down. We hooked the 1970 and 1967 deuces together with the "medium" tow bar and hooked to the the B-29 with an aircraft tow bar. Big wrecker safety chains were used. We got the big plane moving, maybe a little too fast as we overshot the little concrete pads at the new location by about six feet. A slight rearward tug on the main gear got the B-29 back on the pads.
What I thought was going to be a two hour job ended up taking all day, but it was fun. There were no injuries to either people or the two deuces, and only one lightly damaged B-29 tow bar from trying to stop the approximately 65,000 pound plane.
The B-29 had sat in an open field for many months, developing flat spots in the foam filled tires, and also sinking slightly into the field. One deuce could not move the load, and we did not have five tons of junk on hand to load the deuce down. We hooked the 1970 and 1967 deuces together with the "medium" tow bar and hooked to the the B-29 with an aircraft tow bar. Big wrecker safety chains were used. We got the big plane moving, maybe a little too fast as we overshot the little concrete pads at the new location by about six feet. A slight rearward tug on the main gear got the B-29 back on the pads.
What I thought was going to be a two hour job ended up taking all day, but it was fun. There were no injuries to either people or the two deuces, and only one lightly damaged B-29 tow bar from trying to stop the approximately 65,000 pound plane.
Hammer
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I pulled my 16+ ton bulldozer with one of my deuces. Part of it was up a slight incline, on DIRT.
The hard part was getting that bugger moving!
Once it was moving though, it wasn't all too bad.
I definitely didn't have enough weight on the back of the deuce to make this easy.
If you can add a LOT of weight to the back of your truck, it will help a lot with both starting traction, and STOPPING.
But honestly, the trick is to only get going fast enough to keep it moving. These things don't exactly 'coast' like a wheeled vehicle. They pretty much come to a pretty darn quick stop all on their own.
Want to know what will stop them? Chock blocks! The rubber ones, not the wood ones....
Amazing that those little suckers can stop such a heavy weight. Track might roll up on it a little bit, but it will stop fast after that.
If you have a safe route (no down hills!), and some extra hands, try it. If you have anything slopes in the ground, all bets are off. I had a couple side hill points, just pulling it off the road into a field. The thing did exactly what IT wanted to do, and moved my deuce around!
The hard part was getting that bugger moving!
Once it was moving though, it wasn't all too bad.
I definitely didn't have enough weight on the back of the deuce to make this easy.
If you can add a LOT of weight to the back of your truck, it will help a lot with both starting traction, and STOPPING.
But honestly, the trick is to only get going fast enough to keep it moving. These things don't exactly 'coast' like a wheeled vehicle. They pretty much come to a pretty darn quick stop all on their own.
Want to know what will stop them? Chock blocks! The rubber ones, not the wood ones....
Amazing that those little suckers can stop such a heavy weight. Track might roll up on it a little bit, but it will stop fast after that.
If you have a safe route (no down hills!), and some extra hands, try it. If you have anything slopes in the ground, all bets are off. I had a couple side hill points, just pulling it off the road into a field. The thing did exactly what IT wanted to do, and moved my deuce around!
atilathehun
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i am waiting for the movie of this
opcorn:
opcorn:Blood_of_Tyrants
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If you have a gravel pit nearby, have them put a big shovel full of gravel in the bed. That ought to add a couple of tons easily.
n1bnc
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How about loading it on a trailer, at least that way you have brakes and no tracks on the road.
mudguppy
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i'd say if you had access to a trailer w/ 110,000# capacity we wouldn't be having this conversation...
rideni
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I towed a deuce with a F-350 2wd dump truck
no tow bar
only with chains
I road the deuce while my buddy drove
made it most of the way till a super steep hill inwhich I pushed it up the hill with a kubota
no tow bar
only with chains
I road the deuce while my buddy drove
made it most of the way till a super steep hill inwhich I pushed it up the hill with a kubota
Dieselsmoke
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I know I have a better pic somewhere, but this was towing the tank with one of my deuces. Did fine in the dirt, didn't have any traction issues until we got to the gravel road.
Blood_of_Tyrants
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It's all about hp and weight and gearing. I would say that a 5 ton would pull a 55 ton tank slowly and safely. Take your time and don't get in a hurry and you'll be fine.
davesgmc
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well after talking to a guy that creewed on the exact type of a tank that was in question. seems that it might not be possible just due to the fact that the tank wont steer around turns very well at all. i was hoping that it would just be in neutral, it would steer itself around the corners just fine, but i was told it wouldnt. so seems like we need to break out the 70 ton rotator and a low boy.
KaiserM109
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I'm waiting for it to come out on DVD. Have we established what type of tank it is?i am waiting for the movie of this
davesgmc
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m60
reddogkaiser
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The county I work for moved an M60 from its unloading spot to its parking spot in the veterans park with A 1999 Cat 950 loader, it didn't go fast but it moved it! when the tank brakes were applied to turn it the loader definitely slowed down but it kept moving! I would bet Your 5 ton will do it!!
blackwater1
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The m48a2c or the m60 which both use the same engine and transmission do not work as indicated ---- there is no individual braking if the engine and transmission are not operating. the only brake is a manual (one) pedal on the floor (manual -- not hydraulic or air) it works though rods to the transmission and only applies braking to both sides at the same time. the tanks turn with the engine and transmission operating by turning a go-cart type steering wheel which tells the transmission to slow one track. you can piviot (but not good for the track) by putting the tranmission in netural and turnig the steering wheel in one direction -- making one track go foward and the other in reverse ( called netural steer). there are no individial levers ect to stop or slow one track like a bulldozer might have. and the only way to tow the tank (more than a few feet) is to disconnect the final drive collars --WHICH DISCONECT THE TRANS MISSSION-- so when towing the tank since the manual brake works before the final drive there is no brakes at all on the towed tank.
General info --m48a2c and the m60 are power by an aircolled v-12 continental
engine and a alisson chambers (a/c) 2 speed automatic trans mission thought a geared final drive and sprocket on each side-------cant spell worth a crap but i know these tanks lol--------but i now fly helicopters
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davesgmc
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one other problem that we might run into is we cannot get inside the tank, it is welded shut. and i am not sure there is a power pack in it at all at this point. the track have been welded to the drive sprockets, so that will need to be cut loose before it can be moved at all. The other problem might be it does have a power pack in it and it was left in gear? I have heard that some of these static display units actually ran and drove before being put on display and they would drain the oil out of the engine, run it until it locks up. I have actually seen this done on 2 separate units. now if the engine is locked up, the trans is in gear, it ain't gonna roll is it?
blackwater1
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Dave --- locking the engine wont stop the tank from moving the auto trans has no park in it the only thing they could do inside would be to lock the brake pedal down -- this is what the park position on the trans shift lever does. but you can get to the final drive collars form the outside through the left and right rear air grates -- ( open the rear grates - remove the large heat shield if it is still there - that should expose the final drive collars ) --- but if the pack is gone you wont have to do anything but unweld the track -- you have to unhook the final drive collars to pull the pack. If the pack is still in it about a 15 min job to pull the final drive collars --- just one bolt each side --collar comes off and move the inner shaft out with your hand.
If you need to or want to get inside the tank you will have to do it throught the loaders hatch---( the hatch on the left side ) all the other can be locked from the inside.
Dave --- locking the engine wont stop the tank from moving the auto trans has no park in it the only thing they could do inside would be to lock the brake pedal down -- this is what the park position on the trans shift lever does. but you can get to the final drive collars form the outside through the left and right rear air grates -- ( open the rear grates - remove the large heat shield if it is still there - that should expose the final drive collars ) --- but if the pack is gone you wont have to do anything but unweld the track -- you have to unhook the final drive collars to pull the pack. If the pack is still in it about a 15 min job to pull the final drive collars --- just one bolt each side --collar comes off and move the inner shaft out with your hand.
If you need to or want to get inside the tank you will have to do it throught the loaders hatch---( the hatch on the left side ) all the other can be locked from the inside.