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I have a original 46 Mercury. It has a crank and is very easy to start with the crank. The old model t that kicked so bad and broke wrist had a manual spark advance. Most people were only stupid once and forgot to retard the spark before cranking. The same with old Harley's. They had a manual spark and would kick back if not retarded and send you over the handlebars. The newer cars and Harley's use a automatic spark advance and the spark is automatically retarded when the engine not running and being cranked. That pretty much eliminated the kick back. Still if cranking one don't wrap your hand around the crank and keep your thumb back so it can't get caught if it does kick back.
At one time I had a 1942 American LaFrance fire truck that had a big V-12. That engine was set up to crank start. I didn't have the crank, but it had the fitting in the end of the crankshaft and an access hole through the grill. The dang crank would have had to have been at least 3' long to reach. I can't imagine trying to get that V-12 to spin over.....sheesh
That said; I can't imagine hand cranking a "newer" 239. The early Ford 4-banger engines only had 4.5:1 compression. And they were known to break fingers, wrists, and even arms. With a few dislocations here and there. The V8 engines started with low compression but it went up fairly quickly.
I'm not saying they didn't do it - the above bolt is listed to 1947 - I'm just saying I can't imagine actually cranking one. Those guys were a lot tougher than me.
My dad's elbow had a wire in it after cranking one of those when he in his teens..
Recently I've been doing quite a bit of hand cranking on several trucks. A good friend of mine has a 1918 Republic, and 1919 REO Speedwagon, and a 1924 YellowCab.
The REO actually has electric start...but the chain is missing from the starter so we just hand crank it. The YellowCab has electric start but the starter is missing.
Dad used to have a couple of old Poppin' Johnny's; a late 30's B model and an early 40's B model. The early 40's B Model did have electric start but we never had a battery. We'd use an old tire iron stuck in a hole in the flywheel. Can you say dangerous as all get out?? Never did kick back and get me but I did have to chase down that tire iron a few times. Looking back it was pretty stupid.
I'm Really old LOL I thought in the early 50's when Harley went from spring fork front ends to the shocks on front called hydro glide it couldn't get any better. Then I think in late 50's they put shocks on the rear and went from the rigid hard tail frames and called the duo-glide I think.I thought there was no way to improve a motorcycle more. Then in mid 60's they came out with electric start with a push button starter. I fell in love with the button LOL and never wanted to kick another motorcycle. My first Harley was a 1947 and I have no idea how many I have had over the years One of the best I ever owned of the old bikes was a 1950 Model 45 ci. Was low compression so easy to kick was in the same frame as the 74 or big twin they were called back then so were heavy and rode well. Had the same transmission as the 74 with a tank shift foot clutch. Old side valve design easy and cheap to work on. Back to the regularly scheduled truck forum LOL
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