Hand Cranking

[canadian]

EVER ? NEVER? My truck not completed yet but was wondering is this something that you guys use? would certainly impress the girls on Walmart parking lot.....

[Beauford]

My engine is rebuilt and not on the road yet so it is too tight to crank. I can't wait to break her in and hand crank.

[BudP]

If I haven't run the car in the Winter months, I hand crank the car with the ignition off a few times before I turn the key to use the starter motor.

[JDupuis]

Yes! I hand crank the car. Mainly for fun. Couple of times out of necessity.
This reminds me, the first time I ever drove my first Model A, we had to hand crank it. Got it started, started to drive it home, coolant started pissing out the rad cap, had troubles with the shifting of gears. Ect.....
Perceiverance, pays off.
Jeff

[Mitch]

Hand Cranking - Safe and Easy

©1999 Marco Tahtaras

https://web.archive.org/web/20180830...om/index.shtml

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[Sunnybrook Farm]

I can't hand crank my farm car as the crossmember got welded before I got it and threw the crank angle off slightly. I can use it to set the timing but
I don't think it would disengage from the engine if it fired and would turn like a propeller, at least that is what happened when I left it in there and used
the starter one time. Make sure the crank will move in and out easily before trying a hand crank as things can become out of alignment for various reasons.

[CM2]

kick start it..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erhVtmB7arE

[Ray Horton]

I've seen that done with a T, but never with an A.

[CM2]

Used to own and kick start big twin Harley Davidsons.. Used to drink all night and work all day.now it's electric start and clean living..

[Ray in La Mesa]

Used to but now shoulder & elbow don't like to.

[tbirdtbird]

It is mentioned in the tutorial above but not emphasized:
Under no circumstances should you wrap your thumb around the crank handle. Only your 4 fingers. It is actually a bit harder to do it this way.
BUT if you wrap your thumb and it kicks back, you are gonna do really bad things to your thumb, arm, and shoulder.

Always start the crank handle at about 8 and stop your pull at noon. Never push down after it goes past noon

[Afordman31]

I was taught to crank a car using the 8 to12 sequence....not trying to do a 360 degree spin. My Dad said his brother broke his thumb because he had it wrapped the wrong way on the crank.

[aford193031]

You beat me to the tip on the thumb. It is good advice no matter who said it, lol.

[H. L. Chauvin]

As late as the late 1940's I saw a few men coming to Church with their broken arms in a sling from cranking vintage vehicles and cranking old magneto type tractor engines without starters, (referred to as "self-starters" back then), as oppose to manufacturer installed starters.

TIP: Learned about (60) years ago from my Vintage Mechanic Dad, (born 1902):

A. If ever on a Model A tour where everybody is in a hurry to keep up, and old typical Mr. Deep Pocket Scrooge's Model A is left behind at a restaurant because he was too cheap to buy a new battery, here is just one (1) vintage mechanic's often used method to get him going when in a big hurry.

B. Really, not enough time to check his distributor timing ..... besides, old Mr. Cheap-Skates is too cheap to buy Model A tools.

C. Just have a piece of rope handy to double and pass around his crank handle. Next, stand up on his bumper with rope "loosely" held in hand, and pull up on the rope to crank his engine.

D. Most probably old Mr. Scrooge had his Model A timing advanced because somebody told him as such ..... he could obtain better gas mileage.

E. Just in case his engine kicks back, the "loosely" held rope is allowed to slip out of the Mr. Good Samaritan's hand.

F. Avoids a trip to the Emergency Room ........ or even worse, getting arrested for hitting Mr. Scrooge in the head with his Model A crank for having his "unknown" timing setting too advanced to save fuel.

Hope this helps!

[DaWizard]

I try to keep in practice by crank starting my A as often as possible. It is also fun to show off just how easy it is to crank start the A when it has a proper tune-up.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Many people years ago often cranked engines with weak batteries with no problems; and, not everybody back then retarded their Model A spark handles prior to starting their Model A's.

After time, they re-adjusted their ignition points to increase their point gap in which they unknowingly "advanced" their ignition timing to where engines would kick back ...... learning the hard way, at any time ..... and in any century ..... was never was something rare. LOL

[canadian]

gotta love this VFF . great comments , can't wait to crank that puppy .. LOL

[Tom Wesenberg]

Yep, and it should start on the first or second pull. I also hand cranked my 1949 Chevy 1 1/2 ton truck several times when the battery was old and weak.
In some old ad I saw a rope starter accessory, where you had a pull handle coming through the dash, and connected to a rope and pulley accessory which engaged a ratchet setup on the front of the engine.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Used to own and kick start big twin Harley Davidsons.. Used to drink all night and work all day.now it's electric start and clean living..

My Army buddy had a 1947 Harley, and I did more kick starting on that than I care to remember. My 1969 BMW R69S only came with kick start, and it just wasn't starting as nice as it should, so it also required a lot of kicking. One day I got caught in the rain and it died, so I had to push it the last mile home. I found out some fool had installed carbon plug wires, and once I replaced those with solid wire, it would start on the first kick every time.

[aford193031]

Tom, the PO did like the radio interference from the solid wires, lol.

[Mitch]

Do you think anyone has ever run themselves over by hand cranking a car in gear? Especially if it was in 3rd, it would be much easier to pull

[2manycars]

I had a 1919 TT truck with hand crank only. I always parked it in the shed nose out. When I cranked it and it started, I would step aside and wait for it to come past, then jump on and away we would go!

[tbirdtbird]

Happened all the time w/ Model Ts. They had a totally different transmission setup and especially in cold weather with thick oil the tranny would turn with the engine (engine and tranny oil were common), even if you had it in neutral. It was not the neutral we know of today with a full service clutch

I am sure it could happen in an A if you were in third

HaHa I jump started an old F-150 with my jump box on the fender and me leaning over the other fender. I had forgotten to put the truck in neutral. Bonehead. It fired right off and the truck was headed backwards toward a ditch. Had to think quick and yank the coil wire.
Had I been in front of the truck and it was in first it woulda got me

[Beauford]

My buddy one time had to get to work and there was snow and ice all on the ground. He was driving a mustang 5.0. It would just spin on the ice and go nowhere. So he got creative and put it in 1st so the rear was spinning and got out and pushed...it grabbed and took off across the street, over the ditch and hit two trees. I wish I could have been there to video that...

[Mitch]

Hey Dave
We work on some donated auction vehicles here at the shop. One has to be very aware that if the forward clutch pack is welded together it will go forward. Even in park its like power braking it against the park pawl. We already had one take off into a guys tool box for this reason. I always put them up a little on the lift now.

[JDupuis]

When I got my first Model T, I learned about jacking the right rear wheel to start it. Then I was informed about "compression" starting a T. If you have a good motor it works.
Mine started once on compression, 3 weeks after I had last driven it. It freaked me out, I was caught off guard when that happened. Some of you guys may have experienced this as well.
Jeff

[tbirdtbird]

yep, compression starting is cool as it gets
helps to have a a buzz coil in front of a mag, they had tremendous degree overlap and would give a spark over a wide degree range. Then, if your rings and valves were good, they could hold a charge for hours

[Afordman31]

I have seen my Dad do this numerous times with his Model T"s

[2manycars]

My first model A was a yellow coupe with a cracked block and a weak battery. I did not have the $15 to get a new battery at Western Auto, so I always cranked it. One year were were going to a big show at the Mystic Seaport Museum, and when I went to get my girlfriend's roadster pickup out of the shed, the starter drive bolt sheared, so no starter. I cranked it several times that day, and much to the amusement of the onlookers at the gas station.

[canadian]

great memories.

[2manycars]

My Army buddy had a 1947 Harley, and I did more kick starting on that than I care to remember. My 1969 BMW R69S only came with kick start, and it just wasn't starting as nice as it should, so it also required a lot of kicking. One day I got caught in the rain and it died, so I had to push it the last mile home. I found out some fool had installed carbon plug wires, and once I replaced those with solid wire, it would start on the first kick every time.

I had a 1960 Harley panhead that would start on the 3rd kick or the 30th kick. My new Indian Scout has electric start and fuel injection.

[DaWizard]

Bill, I had a red '60 FLH and it was a 2 kick starter! First to get fuel, second to fire off.

[A29tudor]

I try to keep in practice by crank starting my A as often as possible. It is also fun to show off just how easy it is to crank start the A when it has a proper tune-up.

Yes it is, tuned correctly is the answer