VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION General Discussions use of a hand crank

don t rember any one talking about pulled of side of road left lights on battery went dead all i have heard is bad stories about hand crakeing a am scared to try it that to me would be a way since they don t make 6 volt portable jump starters have crake for my 36 to scared to try it people i talk to says you hurt your arm like for someof you to tell methe pro and cons of it tell me step by step how to go about it live out in county finly to kids stop by pused started right up thinks

When I was a teenager I had a model A F0RD and hand cranked it now and then(it had a spark control to retard the spark, like my 28 Chevy) which I haven't started with the hand crank. I have turned the engine over with the hand crank with the ignition off.
I have boosted a 6 volt car with a 12 volt booster, turn all the lights, heater, radio etc. off before you connect the booster battery and as soon as the engine started jerk the negative cable off then the positive cable off, without hurting anything.

When I was a kid we had a tractor w/o an electric starter. I forget what kind it was but I remember it had steel wheels with steel spokes and steel spikes. The only way to start it was with a hand crank and I don't remember ever having any trouble. I was a small lil feller too.

The Chevy I have now with its 4 cylinder gives me fits when I try to pull more than one compression stroke. If ever the battery goes dead it'll either get jumped or push started but I don't see me using that hand crank.

If you can't hand crank a 4-cylinder, then the timing is all wrong. Of course you must RETARD the timing, set the throttle, and bring a cylinder up to compression, switch on and just finish a quick turn past that cylinder and it will start.

The ABC's of hand cranking:

• Retard the spark as much as it will go.
• Turn on the ignition.
• Grab the crank handle with fingers AND thumb wrapping it in the SAME direction -clockwise. (This is the single MOST important step.)
  Insert the crank. Slowly bring it around to the 7 or 8 o'clock position.
• Check that your thumb is still around the handle in-line with your fingers.
• Pull up sharply on the crank to the 1 o'clock position.

You'll FEEL a cylinder ignite and it'll "release the pressure" on your turning. Hopefully the engine will start and continue running. If it does, then it speeds up as you're cranking it and the balancer then kicks-out the handle.

If it doesn't start the first time, then engage the crank again, and slowly move the handle around (by turning the engine over) again to about the 7 or 8 o'clock position, take a deep breath and try again. Be sure to have a smile on your face and don't let anybody see how scared you are.

I probably could hand crank it but I have a severe injury in my back. It takes extremely little effort to aggravate that injury. Read I'm scared to death to pull on that crank. :(

That's how I was taught to do it with the fingers and thumb. I remember being told if I did it wrong and it kicked back odds were good something would break and it wouldn't be the car.

I used to have to hand crank my '25 Roadster now and then, if I was alone. It always started pretty well. Actually, it seemed like it was more likely to start on the "First pull of the crank" better than the "first turn of the Starter." But then I put a different battery in, and that solved the problem. Have had a string of bad luck with the Antique Reproduction batteries. They LOOK pretty, but don't seem to be very good. Now I just use 6 volt Interstates (except on the Show Field).

My 1933 - twice, I have decided to hand crank start it, "just because" I wanted to see if I could. Once, when the engine was warm, and she fired right up. Once, when the engine was cold, and I about wore myself out. Panting, and a sore arm (from all the pulling) but she finally started.

If you have a bad back, it would probably be better to avoid trying to crank a 6 cylinder.

There is almost always a way to push-start, and somebody to help push. That's just as good (if you remember to turn the key on!).

Haven't ever tried crank starting the '53 truck, but it's set up for it. I don't have a long enough crank. Almost the same set up as the '33, so it shouldn't be a problem, either. Someday, I'll bortrow a long-handled crank, just to try it.

There's more to it when the engine is cold. And, whether the car has an updraft or downdraft carb.. On several model T's a cold start was easier if I turned the engine over several times using the choke - ignition off. Then follow Bill's method above. Model A's and T's were easier because the gravity tank system filled the carb automatically, Of course not so with Chevs especially with fuel pumps. Vacuum tanks could be filled manually and we filled a lot of them...Can't remember those steps - too many years have passed....

Things have really changed in the years since VCCA was started in 1961, one of the old G&Ds show a meet where there was a hand cranking game, to see who could hand crank start their cars with the minimun number of pulls.

Yes, cranking a cold engine requires a couple or three pulls with the choke closed and the key off, to prime things up. Unless the car has been sitting quite a while, if there's still gas in the carb bowl, that shouldn't be a big factor. The '33 is downdraft, of course.

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION.





BILL is right- make sure you STOP AT 1:00; NEVER EVER PUSH DOWN ON THE CRANK...if the motor 'kicks back' when you are pulling up on the crank it is jerked down out of your hand (no harm done); if you push down on the crank and it kicks back, your arm can get broken. Cranking should be a series of pulls (if needed) not a continuous circle motion like in the old Laurel and Hardy movies or cartoons.