Hand cranking misadventures

[Milton]

Ok, this thead is to allow those of us who need to confess to being stupid a venue to do so.

In 1956 I was a young lad of slight build so slight that I could barely crank start my 1931 Ford. Furthermore, the car constantly suffered from a low battery. The first time I learned about not retarding the spark I had the motor rotated to the pull spot. I pulled, it pulled, I knew I lost the tug-of-war when my chin hit the radiator shell and I damn near bit the tip of my tongue off. Blood all over the damn radiator.

As I mentioned I was, at 70 lbs. soaking wet, crank start challenged. I had a routine to beat this. I would simply roll the engine up to a compression stroke, set the crank up past the top and nimbly step on the bumper and put my other foot on the crank. Can you see this coming? Well, another lesson on the power of an advanced engine. I stepped down, it kicked back, did a 180 and smacked the living hell out of my shin just below the knee.

So many times, back then, I would limp crawl or move however possible to get in the house so I could scream and moan. So I can sympathize with Great Lakes Greg posting about his tight engine giving him a blister.

Anybody else have a confession, its good for the soul.

 

[Tom Wesenberg]

Not a car, but when I was in highschool I traded my antique TV for my neighbor's antique Evinrude Speedytwin Outboard. This was a big old outboard where both opposing pistons fired at the same time, so it had some good torque when I forgot to retard the spark. I gave the rope a pull and the engine backfired and almost shot me out the rear of the boat.

Then in the 70's I bought a 1917 2 H.P. Evinrude with the wood knob on top of the flywheel to start it. I wasn't getting any pops by cupping my hand over the knob and pulling it over center, so I finally wrapped my hand around the knob and started spinning it as fast as I could. When it finally fired, for a few seconds I thought it broke my wrist.

 

[Patrick L.]

When I was a youngster my friend and I decided to go for a ride and the nearest thing was the 'A', Farmall A that is.. Long story as short as possible,, While crossing a ditch some ways from home it quit .. It didn't want to restart because it was sitting so nose high.. I was getting pretty upset and just grabbed the crank with both hands and started swinging it as fast as I could.. It finally coughed, jerked the crank from my hands and promptly shattered both wrist bones in my hand.. Afraid to say anything, Bill and I strapped my hand to a full metal jerry can.. I would lift and Bill would set the bones.. A change in weather reminds me of this incident today,, that wrist has become a good barometer..
Another one.. A few years back I drove into town with the Ford A for coffee.. Trying to leave and give someone a ride, it failed to turnover, dead battery.. It was the first time this car has ever failed to start.. I grabbed the crank and went to work.. The road was wet and quite slippery, I slipped while cranking and broke my nose on the radiator shell.. My nose actually looks better now, but, that was a bit embarrassing..

 

[pat in Santa Cruz]

We used to have an old Caterpillar 15, a hand crank gas engine crawler. My partner, in spite of my warnings, insisted he had to get it spinning by pushing down on the crank. Well, one day he did that and it kicked back, throwing him about 6 feet from the tractor. Fortunately all he got hurt was his pride.