It is a bad bad practice. I have forgot and left the crank in place and lost at least two cranks over the years, never found them either.In old ford pics and lately, I've seen where model a owners leave hand crank in the hole while driving. What's with that? What keeps the crank from problem,i.e.- lost , paint/metal damage??
I have seen Brent Terry run on a race track with his in and it never fell out. Like 2manycars said, some have the pin at a right angle to the slot in the crank bearing and won't fall out. Now, Model T's are pinned in and are not removable.
Probable many have never started their A by hand cranking.
Probable a lot of A drivers don't even carry a hand crank.
Ron
I have seen Brent Terry run on a race track with his in and it never fell out. Like 2manycars said, some have the pin at a right angle to the slot in the crank bearing and won't fall out. Now, Model T's are pinned in and are not removable.
So, some people do leave the crank in the bearing...on purpose? Other than a LOW battery and mabe a bad starter(emergency) what would be other reasons,if any, for cranking by hand?
The car he did this with was a speedster for race and had no starter other than the crank. It used a small motorcycle battery for power and didn't run a charging system. Just basics and a battery charger overnight.