I recently acquired a hand crank pulley nut that I thought I'd hang on to until I found a way to make a handle. Well at pullapart last weekend, we were staring at a type 3 engine when out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a crank handle shaped piece with a cross bar at the end. I snagged it!

I got home and did some research on the crank handles but it looked like all of the handles had a spinny hand handle area. This one does not. It has wear spots where the nut engages and then hits the ramp into the back of the cross piece. It has no markings but looks like it was made for it. Anyone have any history or info on these?

That handle was most likely used to crank a scissor jack up and down.

Why do you say that? It looks very similar to the VW hand crank, although the dimensions don't exactly match up, but the overall length is 18-1/2" which matches VW hand cranks with the exception of some for a 59 bus that had a deeper bumper and required a 21" crank.

From what I recall about scissor jacks, they use either a hook and look, a nut and socket or if they have a T-bar, its on the jack and the handle has a rounded out socket with a slot cut in it, which is backwards from this handle. I'm confused!

Got it! I did a google search for that and it does look like it. I have never seen that type of jack handle connector before. It looks a lot like a crank start handle, but I can see the differences now.

I'm still gonna try it one day!

Got it! I did a google search for that and it does look like it. I have never seen that type of jack handle connector before. It looks a lot like a crank start handle, but I can see the differences now.

I'm still gonna try it one day!

DO IT!
Just be aware that a backfire is not your friend in this situation..

Quote from: ASBug on September 18, 2014, 12:49:44 PM

Quote from: volksnick on September 18, 2014, 11:49:25 AM

Got it! I did a google search for that and it does look like it. I have never seen that type of jack handle connector before. It looks a lot like a crank start handle, but I can see the differences now.
I'm still gonna try it one day!

DO IT!
Just be aware that a backfire is not your friend in this situation..

My dad once told me that he broke his arm crank starting a model T when he was a kid.

I recall hearing Corky Coker give a friend's older brother a lesson on how to crank start an old car. I must have been in like 3rd grade or there a bouts. He said that you keep your thumb on the same side as your fingers when you crank. That lets handle come out of your grip in the event of a kick back instead of forcing its way through  your fingers with collateral damage. That stuck with me.

Mom used to talk about how her mom would always crank start her daddy's car when he headed off to work. I always thought that was weird, but its what they did!

I recall hearing Corky Coker give a friend's older brother a lesson on how to crank start an old car. I must have been in like 3rd grade or there a bouts. He said that you keep your thumb on the same side as your fingers when you crank. That lets handle come out of your grip in the event of a kick back instead of forcing its way through  your fingers with collateral damage. That stuck with me.

I started to say that same thing but couldn't figure out exactly how to word it.  My dad taught me the same thing . . . I guess he learned it the hard way.