hand crank start for engines

[guillermoariast]

Hi, somebody knows how to start the engine by hand cranking the crankshaft?
I want to make one of this devices for my Blazer K5, because it happend that the electric starter was wrong and i had serious problems. I solved the problem only because i was near a town and somebody helped me.

thanks

 

[dremu]

Hi, somebody knows how to start the engine by hand cranking the crankshaft?
I want to make one of this devices for my Blazer K5, because it happend that the electric starter was wrong and i had serious problems because i was near a town and somebody helped me.

thanks

Foo. It was bad enough on vehicles a century ago, with small displacement engines that spun at low speed. With a big motor at high speed, it would take tremendous manual effort -- and would snap your arm off if it backfired.

Chevy starters are notorious for failing, but there are some things you can do to help.

Carry a length of scrap lumber; I used a ~2' (erm, ~60cm) length of 2x4. Whack the starter solenoid when it seizes. This is only good for a while, as eventually the solenoid seizes permanently, plus it's difficult to get under there, especially when it's hot or the truck is off-road.

Put a heat shield on the starter solenoid. Here in the States we have this one ... for you, I donno. You want something that looks like this

Get a good quality starter. Obviously it's harder for you, but ideally you'd get an AC Delco brand unit, put on the shield as above, and you should be good for a long time. (As with any new starter, you should shim it properly.)

Hope this helps.

-- A

 

[obijuan]

wow when i was in Lima, i saw only one blue K5. a new starter or solenoid would be your best bet. i dont remember many parts stores there, im sure you know of a place where they can be purchased.

 

[Streetgliderx]

whew if you can hand crank a V8..... no offense but i wouldnt want to shake your hand......

 

[K5dreamer]

whew if you can hand crank a V8..... no offense but i wouldnt want to shake your hand......

lol


well, one possible solution, I know the big detroit diesels had an air starter option, i have no idea if it would adapt to a chevy V8. They were both GM, so i guess its possible. They make a helluva noise though. but it would eliminate the electrical starter from the situation.

 

[1979jimmy350]

im sure a hand crank could be made to work, it would have to have one big spring that takes a bit to wind up before it releases to crank the motor, it could be done and might be pretty cool. Or you can put a manual in it and then it can be push started

 

[4X4HIGH]

Hi, somebody knows how to start the engine by hand cranking the crankshaft?
I want to make one of this devices for my Blazer K5, because it happend that the electric starter was wrong and i had serious problems because i was near a town and somebody helped me.

thanks

Way back in the day engines did have a hand crank along with an electric starter but engines back then also only had 4:1 or 5:1 compression ratio. There is NO WAY you would ever be able to hand crank a V/8 of todays vintage.

Like streetgliderx said, i wouldn't want to shake your hand if you could hand crank todays engines.

 

[guillermoariast]

hand crank engine start

Hi, thanks for your answers. Can somebody explain me how the heat shield on the starter solenoid works? and what material is it made from?.

So, i understood that the 6 cylinders engine is impossible to hand crank start. But i think it would by using a device like a spiral spring (as from mechanical clocks), a device that accumulates mechanical force and release it suddenly making spin the crank. What do you think?

 

[1979jimmy350]

So, i understood that the 6 cylinders engine is impossible to hand crank start. But i think it would by using a device like a spiral spring (as from mechanical clocks), a device that accumulates mechanical force and release it suddenly making spin the crank. What do you think?

That is what i had in my mind of a solution when you said this, that could be made to work. Using gear reduction you could make the crank easy to move and just have to turn it a bunch to wind up a spring then you could disconnect the handle and hit a button or something to release the stored engery cranking the motor, you would have to make sure you have a good starting motor to begin with or your arms going to get really tired quick

 

[dyeager535]

May not be feasible based on how common chev trucks are around you, but assuming you've got an automatic, a manual transmission vehicle pointed downhill doesn't even need a starter.

It would be a hell of a lot easier to carry a spare starter or convert to a manual transmission than try to retrofit 100 year old techonology to a 20 year old truck.

 

[dhcomp]

May not be feasible based on how common chev trucks are around you, but assuming you've got an automatic, a manual transmission vehicle pointed downhill doesn't even need a starter.

It would be a hell of a lot easier to carry a spare starter or convert to a manual transmission than try to retrofit 100 year old techonology to a 20 year old truck.

X2. Even on flat ground, it would be easier to push start a truck with a manual than it would be to put a hand crank starter on it!

 

[4X4HIGH]

There is alot more to it than just figuring out a way to spin the engine fast enough by hand to make it start. I can't even begin to think how many broken arms there have been back in the day because the engine "kicked back". The hand crank needs to have a way to be quickly removed once the engine starts otherwise many broken arms will be in store. Just carry a spare starter and forget about the hand crank.

 

[BGKYK5]

IIRC, a high pressure ATF accumulator can be used to start a vehicle with an auto tranny.......but you'll only have one shot.

 

[four_by_ken]

Definitely just get a spare started and keep it in the truck. I have one in the truck and one in the trailer.

Hand crank... not a good idea for the reasons already mentioned.

 

[lectric80]

My Dad's 41 Chev flatbed with an inline 6 has a connector for hand cranking the engine, I can't imagine actually using it. Luckily it has the floor mounted button to start the engine without cranking it. It is setup with 2 teeth that hold the starter rod while you crank it, and when it starts the RPM pushes the rod out of the teeth. That engine is pretty low compression, but would still easily break your arm if it kicked back, something like our engines would be impossible to do this way, as others have said.

 

[MattK]

Another vote for the manual trans if you don't want to carry a spare starter!