I'm guessing for the rod, it allows the ARV to reverse along with the towed vehicle since the rod will not go slack unlike the cable.
ZTQ-15 and PRC Light Tanks
- Thread starter by78
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by78
General
I have no idea. Can anyone chime in? I'm curious as well.
My speculation is that a tow cable is perhaps more versatile, since it's a lot longer than a tow rod, and it can also be winched. A tow rod can likely bear more load, and also if the towed vehicle doesn't have functioning brakes or engines, a rod is definitely better in this situation.
plawolf
Lieutenant General
Tow cables would be more versatile as it can be much longer and flexible, so you can use it to recover vehicles that slipped down a bank or got stuck in mud etc that you wouldn’t be able to reach with a tow bar.
The problem with a tow cable is that is flexible, which means realistically, you need a driver in the vehicle being towed or else you are going to be massively limited in how fast and what kind of terrain you can effectively tow because you can only effectively the direction of the vehicle being towed very slightly or else you risk it dragging the recovery vehicle.
So realistically you will want both a tow bar and a tow cable. The cable would be more useful for the actual recovery operation, whereas the tow bar would be far superior if you need to tow a recovered vehicle any distance in realist conditions.
The problem with a tow cable is that is flexible, which means realistically, you need a driver in the vehicle being towed or else you are going to be massively limited in how fast and what kind of terrain you can effectively tow because you can only effectively the direction of the vehicle being towed very slightly or else you risk it dragging the recovery vehicle.
So realistically you will want both a tow bar and a tow cable. The cable would be more useful for the actual recovery operation, whereas the tow bar would be far superior if you need to tow a recovered vehicle any distance in realist conditions.
Absolutely both options are needed. And PLAwolf has summarised it. I once bogged my tracked vehicle (not in combat) and was recovered out by cable. Cable is also critical if the recovery vehicle is not "in line" or to say is at an oblique angle to the vehicle being recovered or more distance is needed between the 2 vehicles.
You can tow an empty vehicle with tow rod; with tow cable, you'll need some one least to steer or brake the towed vehicle
They'll struggle to fit a washing machine in there!