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Can You Hand Crank A Pinz Gasoline Engine?

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 4:30 pm
by nicholastanguma
I've noticed that many old school air cooled engines came from their respective factories equipped with provisions for hand cranked emergency starts, everything from Volkwagen flat fours to Citroen flat twins to Tatra V12 diesels (yes, really!); further, even many liquid cooled engines up until about WW2 could be hand cranked in an emergency, too, the Willys Jeep being a prime example.

Got me to wondering: can the air cooled gasoline engine in a 710 or 712 be hand cranked, somehow?

Re: Can You Hand Crank A Pinz Gasoline Engine?

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 6:50 pm
by TechMOGogy
Haflinger came with a hand crank but no clue how you would even attempt a Pinz

Re: Can You Hand Crank A Pinz Gasoline Engine?

Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 10:32 pm
by VinceAtReal4x4s
Access would be a big problem on a Pinz.

My ex 1972 Land Rover S-III 2.25 ltr petrol had a crank but it could (literally) break your wrist if you weren't careful.

I'd rather stick to roll starting a manual truck if/when needed.

Re: Can You Hand Crank A Pinz Gasoline Engine?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 1:45 am
by Garrycol
Being a mil vehicle of that era I am surprised that there is no means of hand cranking a Pinz. Certainly my Landrover 101 V8 can be hand cranked and I have done it - is not all that hard cranking the V8.

Re: Can You Hand Crank A Pinz Gasoline Engine?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 6:45 am
by undysworld
Does "hand cranking" it uphill with a come-along, and then bump-starting it downhill count? :DD Gotta do whatever it takes...

Only Slightly Off-Topic True Story: My Uncle Leo farmed alone, and when his 1950 Ford pickup wouldn't bump-start by rolling downhill (It rarely started under it's own power), he'd start a tractor to go tow it. He'd get them both moving, tie the tractor's steering wheel straight, then jump off the tractor, run back and get into the truck. He'd then bump-start the truck and let it idle, jump back out of the truck and run and get onto the tractor again and gradually slow them down. Whatever it took. The guy really wanted to get to town.

Re: Can You Hand Crank A Pinz Gasoline Engine?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 8:22 am
by ScottishPinz
I have heard that this is possible......

4x4 Pinz in 2wd, chock the wheels, jack up on one side at the back, in 2nd gear with ignition on, rotate jacked wheel to 'hand crank' engine. Once started wheel will spin dangerously and of course if it slips off the jack it will run away, but it might get you out of a tight spot in the middle of no-where with a flat battery.

Never tried this but would love to hear if anyone has done it!

Re: Can You Hand Crank A Pinz Gasoline Engine?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 10:54 am
by nicholastanguma
VinceAtReal4x4s wrote: Tue Jun 19, 2018 10:32 pm Access would be a big problem on a Pinz.

Hmm...

Looking at photos online that show a 710 in direct side profile, the distance from the grill opening to the engine inside the cab does indeed look like quite a reach. However, a hand crank with a properly long length would immediately overcome this problem. And, if some kind of short length of tube, perhaps only 2" or 3" long, in fact, was welded to the front bumper it would act as a stabilizer for the overly long crank when being turned. A custom machined crank pulley nut would need to be affixed to the crank pulley in place of the stock piece to mate with the hand crank, of course.

With all of that in mind, I suppose the real question at this point is simply: looking through the front grill opening, is there a direct line of sight to the crank pulley nut all the way back there in the engine bay?

Re: Can You Hand Crank A Pinz Gasoline Engine?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:05 am
by edzz
ScottishPinz wrote: Wed Jun 20, 2018 8:22 am I have heard that this is possible......

4x4 Pinz in 2wd, chock the wheels, jack up on one side at the back, in 2nd gear with ignition on, rotate jacked wheel to 'hand crank' engine. Once started wheel will spin dangerously and of course if it slips off the jack it will run away, but it might get you out of a tight spot in the middle of no-where with a flat battery.

Never tried this but would love to hear if anyone has done it!
Heck, I want to see the video. Especially the part with the driver less Pinz fading into the sunset. :lol:

On a more serious note, I still recall new years eve of '78 when I came out to find I had left the lights on in my series III rover, hadn't yet had a drink however being young and foolish I decided to hand crank it in the process I pulled out my back. A couple weeks later I traded the rover in on a Mazda repu that I could drive to work with out my back suffering all day. :shock:

Re: Can You Hand Crank A Pinz Gasoline Engine?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 12:48 pm
by VinceAtReal4x4s
My question is... why? It's not likely that the starter will fail and if it does, you can just roll start the truck easily. Doing all that mod work will just ruin the truck more than likely.

Re: Can You Hand Crank A Pinz Gasoline Engine?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 1:52 pm
by David Dunn
Coming from a long history of Land Rovers, adding a crank start was one of the things I looked at. IIRC (it has been 18 years) The crank is located below the tunnel and would require fabbing a tunnel through body sections to the crank nut.
The 3 Pinzes I had with a stick would start easily by a slow roll.

I've also heard of starting a Jeep with a rear wheel off the ground but with the use of a rope wrapped around the tire ( sort of like a large rope start of a lawn mower :roll: )

Re: Can You Hand Crank A Pinz Gasoline Engine?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 10:39 pm
by nicholastanguma
VinceAtReal4x4s wrote: Wed Jun 20, 2018 12:48 pm My question is... why? It's not likely that the starter will fail and if it does, you can just roll start the truck easily.

Sometimes the terrain is not conducive to such a maneuver. And although the idea of somehow modding a Pinz to be hand crankable may seem redundant or even utterly unnecessary, in my experience: Nothing's ever a problem...until it is.

I mean, a Pinzgauer was specifically constructed to be as simple as possible for field operation in a war theater. Today, we Pinz enthusiasts appreciate this theme in the overlanding theater. And some overlanders aren't just weekend warriors, those folks are genuinely overlanding. The Moroccan Sahara, the steppes of Mongolia, the Icelandic tundra, the deserts of Namibia, the Australian Outback, these are places where nothing's ever a problem...until it is.

I don't think modding a Pinz to be hand crankable would actually require any difficult work. From what I'm seeing here in this thread all that would be necessary is to machine a custom crank pulley nut and then weld in an access tube through the truck's bodywork, from the front bumper to the engine bay.

Re: Can You Hand Crank A Pinz Gasoline Engine?

Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 10:40 pm
by nicholastanguma
David Dunn wrote: Wed Jun 20, 2018 1:52 pm IIRC (it has been 18 years) The crank is located below the tunnel and would require fabbing a tunnel through body sections to the crank nut.

Thanks, David. This is exactly the specific piece of information that I was looking for.

Re: Can You Hand Crank A Pinz Gasoline Engine?

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2018 12:43 am
by edzz
My suggestion would be to find a vehicle of similar engine size and compression that is already equipped for a hand crank and make arrangements to sample what it takes to hand start it. Than decide if its still a project you wish to proceed with.

40 years of off and on back pain have not left me a fan of hand cranks. Make sure you are well schooled on the proper use of the hand crank before you hurt yourself like I did.