Thank you sir for showing this, I remember my grandfather starting them like this during my childhood years of the 60's, definitely a time when men didn't inherent their hands from their mother.
I've always wanted to see how a hand crank worked on a tractor, my dad told me when I was a kid how he used to crank my granddaddy's John Deere when he was little. Great video!
My grandfather had a story he liked to share about an F-20 he grew up with. He was in a hurry to get back to plowing and instead of pulling up on the crank he spun it from the top. The engine caught at the bottom of the spin and it kicked the crank out. Crank caught him across the forehead and knocked him cold. When he came to the tractor was sitting there idling.
I was cranking a 1952 D8-2u dozer's pony motor, I knew cranks were dangerous but had never fooled with one prior. Sure enough, first starting attempt I get a reverse spin and it threw me (195lbs) off the track and back into the cab. The bruise it left on my hand was black and purple for a week and a half. VERY lucky I didn't break my arm. You bet I treated that pony motor with more respect after that.
Safety - I saw your video. I like your video except for the grip on the handle. I grew up with a crank start Farmall A and several crank start autos, I still have my 1911 Hupmobile. I was taught to never grip the handle like a handlebar. All fingers and your thumb should be cupped on the same side of the handle just in case the handle grips and sticks. If it so binds it will break your thumb most often this is when people are cranking it round and round. We never had to do more than one or two up pulls on the Farmall A. In winter we primed the old engines with perhaps a milliliter of gasoline in each cup. The rest of the video was great. My cranking instructor a neighbor, was an old orthopedic doc who had rebuilt some hands and arms as well as had some B&W autopsy photos. Thanks for the memories.
Thanks for the post. I a battery going bad in my newly inherited Farmall C. I was dead in the yard for the night with the battery not taking to a jump. 15 cranks after watching this video the old gal fired up 👍
Spot on, you guys. I've linked this to a Citroen 2CV page, where some folk were curious about how to hand start their motors. 'Half a turn' is top advice... ;)
Yeah, the problem is when pushing down you have your whole body moving down and into the front of the tractor so you can not quickly get out of the way if it kicks back. Thanks for watching!
Hi Thanks for the video, I'm 44 and started messing with hand crank tractors and engines when I was about 12. My Grandad and dad/uncle all farmed in the U.K with the old fordson N and E27N's back in the day. My first lesson was never hand crank an engine to start it with your thumb over the handle, the rest of the lesson was just like your video. If any of my dads side of our family ever saw me crank an engine with my thumb over the handle, it was a guaranteed yelling at. And possibly an @$$ kicking if it was my dad or granddad that caught me doing it !. I was taught the same steering tractors never put your thumb over the rim of the steering wheel., If you went in a hole and it jerked the front wheel and spun the steering wheel. It would take your thumb off with the old type mechanical linkage steering systems, I've never had it happen with full power steering, but had a big gopher hole yank the wheel round in my hand on the Fordson supermajor we use to cut grass here.
That makes good sense pulling from the bottom half a turn I seen a guy pulling it from the top standing on the opposite side half of turn the way you're doing it you have your feet planted firmly no chance in falling seems like trying to pull it from the top like I seen that guy do it would pull your shoulder out of joint
I have an old 8N that started and ran like a singer sewing machine when i bought it. Next morning i flooded it and now the starter just spins. I had to get a new starter. It didn't help, so i ordered the hand crank. Well, then i found out it didn't have the ratchet nut on the crank front. So, i found one on ebay and waiting for that now. I am going to be real careful. I am a big strong hillbilly, but i have small wrists for a man my size. I am afraid i'll break a wrist or worse. Thanks for this video. I'll try to be careful. Someone said back in the day men had bigger wrists. I know my grandpaw did. I once saw him pick up the engine side of a car and walk around the yard with it. He was only five feet six inches tall but his hands were like baseball gloves.
Thanks for bothering to show the correct and safe method of hand starting an engine. It’s frightening to see so many people swinging an engine in a dangerous manner. If you do it safely, it’s easier! Nice tractor too 😉
when cranking you should always keep your thumb on the same side as your fingers so if it does backfire it doesnt break your thumb other than that thats the same way i crank mine.
Hey Dave, maybe you should point out holding it with an open palm, so the handle can slip out if it does decide to be cranky, that way you won't end up cranky in the ER, My old man went over and over again with me about it on my H (birthday present).
Thank you for the reminder, I thought I was being thorough but I did miss a few of the finer points like that. An H would be quite the birthday present! Thanks for watching!
YOU SHOULD ALWAYS....do it with your left hand. If it backfires, the crank will just rip out of your hand and push it out of range. If the crank comes a second round, your hand will not be hit. Do it with the right hand, same scenario, and you will get hit over your hand backside or knuckles, probably breaking them.
I once drove my Farmall to pickup some I brought at a barn sale. This guy told me to be careful when hand cracking it because he broke his arm as a kid trying to start it on their farm. So I was looking for the safe way to start it. There were other videos but yours emphasized safety the most. Thanks again
pretty cool any of them tires in the background skidder tires? ..father has a Farmall "A" Culti-Vision ..sat since about 92...we put a different carb on it and that did work at all so i rebuilt the carb for him...after i put it on ..i went to get a chain to tow it ...he said just wait 4 hand flops and it was idling like a champ..i take the kids on it everychance i get
No skidder tires, I stick mainly with farm tractors. A's are a nice size tractor to play with, had my kids for many a ride growing up. Thanks for watching!
Just from memory I'm gonna say the crank is about 3/4" diameter. Some like Massey Harris had a fatter one, more like 7/8" and they wouldn't fit the pulley. Thanks for watching!
If you use your left that could put your body in the path of the crank, with your right hand you should be beside the crank if you happen to move forward. Thanks for watching!
How do you know that handle will disconnect from the bottom pulley? How do you disconnect the handle as the engine fires? Do you withdraw the handle as you hear the engine fire?
The serial number is on the block on a flat surface behind the magneto/distributer just below the head and on a tag on the left hand seat bracket or the brake pedal cover under the foot board on 1939s. Thanks for watching!
@@CanadianRedneck15 yes and no, if it has electric start just turn it over and it starts and burns it out but if it is flooded it takes longer for the thing to start hand cranking or electric.
Love Your Channel Sir, I have one question I hope you can answer. My 1940 Farmall A, Hand Crank Only, will start Every Time Cold, with One or 2 Cranks, as You demonstrate, However after Running for 10 minutes or more, engine warm, it Refuses to Restart. Hours later, it starts right up! I remembered watching this video and you mentioned this in the video. What is the reason? Bad Coil or Condensor? Points are set Perfect at .013. Does a Coil Loose Power after heating up? It's very Puzzling, hope you can shed some light on this. Perhaps even do a video. Thank You very much for sharing Your Knowledge.
That is a good point, you want to make sure the tractor is in neutral or when you crank the engine over the tractor will move, if it starts the tractor will drive away, not a good time! Thanks for watching!
Why did they ever quit the good old timing retard lever ? It actually spun the motor in the forward direction when it fired. Instead of the occasional kick back found with BTDC / advanced ignition.. I still use the technique to start cars with near dead batteries.
I just picked up a 1940 A and I have, what may seem like a Foolish Question. I Know that the engine usually will only Kick back if the Timing is advanced, Not Retarded, so my question is, How can You be sure, on a Tractor You NEVER started before if it is NOT advanced, thus an accident waiting to happen, enough to Kick back?
That's actually a very sensible question. About the only way to know is to check your ignition timing. I have a video that explains how to set the timing on these engines. The one in the video is with a distributor but with a magneto is the same principle. The video is here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JIpb2kxRYPc.html skip ahead to about the 10 minute mark for setting the time. The mark for TDC is on the flywheel, you access it through the oval inspection cover on the bottom of the clutch housing. Good luck and thanks for watching!