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Has anyone hand-cranked their M-37 with a winch? I have a stock winch and the wire rope is off the drum at this time and it does not appear that a crank would fit past the winch. I would like to get a crank as an accessory to have on the truck but I would like for it to work. Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks for your input, T.R.

Hi TR,
I havent tried an M37, but on the Power Wagons with winches they had a longer crank. You have to unspool all the cable, bolt on a little guide on the front angle of the winch, and you were off to the races! (or the emergency room if you held the crank wrong!)Not too convenient, but I suppose if you were out in the wastelands it would be an appealing way to get it going again. By what you say, if the spool is in the way, maybe the winch trucks cant be hand cranked.
Tim

T.R.,

Although the Dodge 230 has the snout on the crankpulley for the hand crank I've never seen it mentioned in any of the manuals or seen pics of the hand starter. I did find one for my WOW M37 and it only sticks out past the bumper by about 3/4". So it would definitely be too short for a winch truck. I don't see either one listed in ORD 9......so I'm not sure what's up with the hand starter. There was a guy on eBay who'd been trying to sell a hand crank for the Dodge 230 forever......but he wanted an outrageous amount for the hand crank. Don't think he ever sold it. The good news is it's not a hard thing to make if you wanted one.

regards,
bob

I have the original hand crank but it won't fit up with the winch mounted since there drum is in the way, on mine at least. The crank would be easy to make up if you wanted one. I can post the dimensions if anyone is interested.

Jess

Hi Jess,

Please post those dimensions if you could.....I picked up 3 cranks at Aberdeen for cheap and the seller wasn't sure what they fit. One's marked for a WC, but who knows. The other two are identical except in overall length. I'm hoping I got lucky and one of them is correct for my M.

thanks,
bob

Has anyone here ever successfully started there truck with a crank? We had a Minneapolis Moline tractor with a crank and that was a b-tch to start with a crank.

DJ......heck no! Who uses a hand crank to start an M37???

I've started plenty of Farmalls with the hand crank and it's always been easy (as long as they're in good tune). But cranking a straight six is probably going to suck. Heck, I don't even know which way you crank on an M37. I assume clockwise, but I've never seen that printed anywhere. Just remember....keep the thumbs in or you'll lose 'em.

regards,
bob

I did this a couple of summers ago of the original starting procedure for the N3N. I guess I could get the crank out of the tool box and try it on the M-37.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vNlQ_IZh6o

I should clarify that I have the crank for the M-37. No Im not using the one for the airplane Tho it is the same crank for any of the radial powered WW2 tanks

w30bob wrote:DJ......heck no! Who uses a hand crank to start an M37???

Heck, I don't even know which way you crank on an M37. I assume clockwise, but I've never seen that printed anywhere.

regards,
bob

When standing in front of the truck you crank clockwise. If you are sitting inside working the choke and throttle it doesn't matter.

Bert

I've heard long hills work in a pinch to.

On a more serious note, I would assume the hand cranking procedure would be similiar to the WC's and older models that use the 218/ 230 motors.

I have to second Bob's comment about keeping your thumbs in when cranking using the hand crank. I learned to drive in my dad's 1952 MG-TD complete with hand-crank. Learned to handcrank the car and did it many times. You'll be VERY sorry you didn't keep your thumbs tucked into your palms when pulling the crank in the upward motion.

I was always taught to leave the ignition off, crank the engine over half a dozen times and stop when you felt the peak compression on a piston and the crank is between 12 and 2 oclock, turn the ignition on and with a correctly tuned engine it will start within a 1/4 turn (and usually did if it wasn't excessively cold), and yes, tucking the thumbs in is compulsory, unless you feel the need to sit at A&E for a few hours waiting to get the break looked at

MM