and can any body tell me the actual 1/1 length of a tanker bar commonly found on Shermans and other WWII American vehicles ?
thanks guys,
tread[H]
Modern tanker bars are 60" and the ones on the PCs are 48" (I think).
Thank you very much, Rob …older ones the same from WWII ?
tread[H]
Yeah, I’m going need those TPS reports Monday, so if you could work Saturday, that would be great.
Now, that is something I do not know. I don’t know if a WW2 Sherman tanker bar is the same as the one from the M48/M60/M1 or if it is smaller like the one found on the M113 family of vehicles or if it is an entirely different size all together.
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Certainly can’t answer the question… but I can ask one. What is a “tanker bar”?
I heard it’s a long iron bar, mainly used to work on the track of tracked vehicles - keeping it properly tensioned and such. But would love to hear more detail, too. Have a nice day
Paweł
It’s the name of one of the lounges inside the Fort Knox Officer’s Club 
It is a 5 foot long metal pry bar included on most all US armored vehicles (slightly shorter version for smaller vehicles). The working end is chisel shaped and the handle end is round. It is used for just about anything from taking off end connectors to busting open ammo crates. The handle end is often mushroomed from being struck with a 10 pound sledge hammer.
The official name is Bar, Pry, 60" but is referred to as a tanker’s bar. Other common tank tools that have names other than the official nomenclature are items like a cheater pipe, track jacks, dog bone to name a few.
On a model like a Sherman tank or M113 APC, it is included and is usually the longest and straightest piece of on vehicle tool.
I could not locate a photo of one, but in this You Tube video about breaking track, you can see one briefly on the ground at the 30 second mark and a soldier tossing one on the ground at the 45 second mark. The whole video lasts about a minute and a half. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbFh8lY_z5U
Thanks again, Rob, I made some calculations from reference pictures (of 1/1) and also measured my 1/16 model in the allowable space. 60 inches (3.75 " in 16th scale) will look perfect so that must be it. Thank you for your help and writing to Marc so he now knows what a tanker bar looks like and how to use one.[;)] The long round handle with the square,chisel bottom are the most defining traits.
best regards,
tread[H]
Thanks Rob. That must be what that bar in the rear upper deck of Sherman’s is.
back in my youth my third assignment in my tank battalion was 4.2" mortar platoon leaders. my crews always called them tanker’s bars and i alwasy corrected them, calling it a pc bar. after 6 months or so it sunk in.
Tread , i measured the bar on the Tamiya kit . its works out to roughly 60 " at 1/1 [Y]
Now my question from the other post is answered .
I was woundering what you guys were talking about as well. We called them crow bars.
Had an interesting incident with one while do a pad change on a warrior. We used to use 3 bars to flip a track on its side and then back again. We were doing the latter and as the track was going over one of the guys lost his grip and the bar went flying, straight through the door of a Land Rover parked a few feet away
What? No Donkey D ick?"
We ha a Donkeys D ick as well, but i am stu,pped if i can recall what it was for.
they were the “nozzles” that went with the 5gal cans to pour oil into engine and transmission. in my M60A2 unit we also had elephant rubbers. since the round casing was combustilble and subject to weather damage, 152 rounds in the ready racks in the turret had a big rubber “bag” to cover the casing. they were stored base up and we had bis asbestous “bags” that went over the rubber bag.
In the US, a crow bar is a shorter J-shaped pry bar. It’s usually less than a yard long and hand held. Here is a typical crow bar.
(girl provided to show relative size of crow bar [whstl])
Using tanker bars to change inner roadwheel on M4 w/HVSS…
!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Army Pics/Armor/hvss-m4-tank-track-repair.jpg)