VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 Hand cranking

Today my starter decided not to work. I'm willing to bet it has oil on the commutator but that's not the topic I want to talk about. The car had started right up as usual when I realized I'd forgotton my wallet. So I shut the car off and ran inside to retieve it. When I got back in the car nothing happened. Everything else worked except the starter and the owner.

Back when I was a kid we had a tractor that could only be started with a hand crank. I have fond memories of that tractor. I also remember it kicking back one time.

That was about 45 years ago and I haven't used a hand crank since. At this point in my life I have a bad back and the thought of a kick back scares me to death. But I was he77 bent and determined to take that car for a ride. Out came the crank. Set the spark, turned the key on, and one pull of the crank and the engine was running.

I made several stops in town and the starter worked each time but one. One pull of the crank and it would fire right up. After I got home I let the engine sit several hrs and tried it again. It started on the first pull but stalled before I got to the spark. Had I set the throttle a little no doubt it would have kept running. After that it took about 10 pulls but it fired up.

It's a good feeling to know I can use the hand crank if need be. I have no desire to make a habit of it but it was fun.

Something tells me I don't want to start it with a hand crank on a cold winter day after the car has sat for several weeks. In a case like that it might be better to hitch a horse to it and pull start it. :vcca:

That or just ride the horse.

rbl2 I thought i might post my first reply in about 20 years time as i have little experience with cars but I had the same problem with my 28 tourer, some times it would start and then not start. First i replaced the earth cable and made sure it was on metal and not painted areas it worked ok for a while then played up again so i replaced the floor starter switch it worked ok for a while then played up finally it just wouldn't start so i had the starter motor overhauled new brushes,bearings,bendix etc now good as gold. I think the bearings had worn allowing the commutator to earth/short. it seemed like it was a lottery if the starter stopped turning on a certain spot it wouldn't start. The other slight problem was the main battery stud had broken away from the fields. Hope this helps I'm sure others will fill in the technical details which I'm unable to do.

You might be suprised how quick it will start when cold! I had rebuilt a 1929 Mc Cormick-Deering 10-20 Tractor which ran on kerosene (start on gasoline then switch to kero when warmed up) and had no starter. Started it many times when it was 20 deg out. I would prime the engine with the choke on and ign off for 4 pulls then turn off choke and turn on the ignition at the retarded starting position and give it a nice even gentle pull and off she would go. Bet that Chevy will do the same thing! I think battery equipped ignitions will start better with a hand crank since the starter isn't robbing voltage to fire the coil. I do know what you mean about the back though and I worry too. That old tractor had something like 331 cid and was a snug rebuild with 30 wt oil, you would have to tug pretty good before it broke in some, but she never failed to start. One word though to any novices to hand cranking, Be absolutly sure the spark is retarded or it will kick back and that can really hurt. When I say be sure it is retarded I mean both at the lever on the wheel and in the engine! If your engine timing is not set exactly right just don't hand crank it till it is set right. Hold your thumb in (not wrapped around) and pull up on the crank handle only and stand clear of the path of the handle. DO NOT try to spin it like it does with the starter! That is asking for a bruising. Just lift up for that 1/4 turn. It also help to keep your hand open and not grab the handle with your fingers. Also be sure the crank end isn't buggered up and will release the crank handle when it starts, if it is grabby clean up the burrs or rust. You don't want the handle spinning around with the engine as I have seen that happen and the handle may fly out and that ain't pretty! Overall It is a good thing for everyone who owns one of these old cars to know how to do it right incase you have to do it. After you do it a few times it isn't so scarry, but remember to always respect the rules. 99% of broken arms were because of spark not being retarded, the other 1% was because there was still a glowing carbon chunk in the cyl so if a hot engine dies, give it a few min to cool before hand cranking.

I wish I could remember for sure what kind of tractor we had back then. It was 1963 and the tractor was older than dirt then. I remember it had steel wheels with spikes and no fenders. I don't remember if it ever had lights but it didn't have any when we used it. I remember that because at night we would cranl it up and head towards the woods, unable to see where we were going. Eventually we would hit a tree, put it in low gear and keep on going, taking the tree down as we went. Nothing stopped that tractor. There were a few trees we had to back away from but not many.

It also started on gas and after warming up run on kerosene. I also remember it kicking back one time while I was starting it. It lifted me right up in the air. It was a while before I built up the nerve to try and start it again.

You all forgot the most important thing to remember. Neutral-neutral-neutral.It is a good practice to give a tug on the crank with the ignition off to verify that the car is not in gear. Then turn on the ignition and go at it.Set the parking brake if you have one and it works. My father was pinned against the side of a building by our Farmall H one time. It was thankfully set at idle and spun the tires in the sand floor until it dug deep enough that it killed the engine. It took 4 strong young men to roll the tractor out of those holes and set him free! He was sore but uninjured,except for his pride.

You are right 61vert! I knew I was fogetting something and hoped someone would pick it up. That is the first thing I do before anything else is check for neutral. Good call! We don't want someone running the car through the back wall of the garage especially if they are in front of it! What happened to your dad isn't the first time I heard something like that, glad he waas OK. Some guys weren't that lucky.

rbl2, I know what you mean about taking trees down, it took a a tree of a good 5" plus to stop my 10-20 and then it would spin the steel wheels with cleats and dig a hole so fast you couldn't get your foot on the clutch fast enough to keep from getting buried. Mine didn't have lights or anything else either so I didn't use it at night unless I had to but I mostly used it in the woods skidding logs during the day. I had a neighbor who was in his late 70s at the time he told me this (now in his 80s)who was plowing with a 1920s Farmall Regular, running "distillate", when he was so little he couldn't hardly reach the clutch and he killed it one day. His Dad was very strict, didn't take to any foolishness, and got mad when he didn't hear that tractor running and saw it parked out in the field. He stormed out and thought his son was taking a nap in front of the tractor in the shade. Well, he wasn't, he got knocked out cold trying to restart it while it was still hot, which you have to do running kerosene(and didn't think to retard the spark) It kicked backed and the crank left a halfmoon shaped dent in his forehead which he carries to this day. (he had to pull down on the handle because he was too short to pull up on it) He said his Dad was a lot nicer to him after that! He told me that when I was still working on my 10-20 and never forgot that one! I remember that everytime I touch a crank handle on anything. He took the hard lesson, I just took him serious. It was a shame really the tractor companys didn't go to electric start as early as the car companys did. One thing was the farmers back then were too proud or too stubborn to have that kind of "pampering" (or too cheap to get a new battery in a lot of cases), so a lot of cars came with or could be ordered with hand cranks way into the 30s and I know some trucks into the early 50s had them, Chevy included.

I had an uncle that grew up with the cars that were early to the 20th century and he told stories about people starting cars and them not being in neutral.

I was also too little to pull up on the crank of our tractor. The day it kicked back on me was my fault. The exhaust pipe pointed straight up and had no cover. We used to put a soda or beer can with one end cut off over it when we shut it off. I had forgottton to do that. There had abeen a light rain and I guess water got in it. I remember turning the crank slowly several times before turning the ignition on. Then I gave it a hard shove down and it kicked back sending my small 4'10, 90 lb butt up in the air several feet. I was hurt but nothing was broken. It was quite awhile after that before I started it again.

Yesterday the starter on my car again wouldn't work so I took a wrench to the nut that holds the cable to the starter and twisted it back and forth. It started right up. Apparently it's dirty.