If you are serious about starting with a hand crank without destroying your pretty grill from a bad kick back, you will want to either find or fabricate the special bracket which bolts to the center bolt of the front bumper. The crank goes through it and keeps the entire crank in line even if kick back wildly throws the crank out of the crank snout. Denny Graham has pictures of one and specs on how to make your own in his album.
Carl,
I agree, and that was my plan. You can't really use it without having the support to leverage the handle, otherwise it was be much too dangerous...even with the support there's a high risk factor in cranking an engine.
I did find out I have the high compression 235 in my pickup also, it was upgraded by the PO. I believe the higher compression will only make it that much more dangerous.
Funny, I was thinking about my Husqvarna chainsaws and how they have a decompression for the cylinder when you start them. Maybe I need a way to release the compression on the 235 to crank it safely? (j/k)
It is one of the features that I think is cool, just like the cowl and windshield, those classic/traditional features ended when the Advanced Design came to life in '47. As many will tell you, those features that make the AD so nice as the features that many wanted in this trucks, but there will probably always be people like me that admire tradition over convenience. Eventually even if I don't use the crank, I gotta have one...LOL Making one is the ticket for me. I'll use a hardened pin, but I think annealed would be just fine for the crank. Even annealed will put a hurtin' to one that is not conscious about using the crank properly...a piece of leather will do it also, they used to teach you that as a kid...
Alan
