Anyone know what this handle is made to crank?

[buzzstar]

Originally Posted by Ribman

This is a link to an eBay listing of a yanmar crank for sale. https://m.ebay.com/itm/YANMAR-diesel...%257Ciid%253A1

To my eye, sufficiently different (one direction only) to eliminate Yanmar as a possible subject for OP's crank. More thought: Seems highly improbable that anything used to power a Tayana 37 would use a hand crank even for maintenance.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Sailorbob8599

What 64 Pilot said. Note also the handle is long enough to get two hands on it. Engine cranks don't usually provide for two hands-on. also, the business end to engage the crank is usually a little longer as it usually is inserted through some form of bracket to support the handle when cranking an engine.
My guess is, it is NOT a starter handle for any engine I know of, but I do not know what kind of winch it might fit either. .

Originally Posted by buzzstar

I agree with a64pilot. I've started engines using a hand crank, and this one is the sort that would lead to a fractured arm if the engine started. Best guess is a drum, windlass, or a winch. It does look like it is designed to operate in both directions, CW and CCW, but not allow for kickback. It also appears to be intended to operate with the handle pointed "up" rather than horizontally, although the hole in the end creates uncertainty about that thought.

Sorry to disappoint you all but it is a Yanmar engine crank and is used on the the YSx series engines and probably on others series of similar vintage. These could be purchased as a purely hand start option (no stater motor , no alternator, no instrument panel etc). There is one under a mates house down the road!

Yanmar used a chain drive off a PTO shaft and the chain cog on the this shaft had a racket arrangement so that the turning force could only be applied when the hand crank force was greater than the torque from the PTO shaft. Thus as soon as the engine started, the chain would no longer rotate. Unless of course you could apply more than 6 Hp to the crank handle

I'm currently rebuilding a YSE 8 and it has this raised chain hand start arrangement using this crank handle

Originally Posted by Ribman

This is a link to an eBay listing of a yanmar crank for sale. https://m.ebay.com/itm/YANMAR-diesel...%257Ciid%253A1

Yanmar made two versions of this style crank. A long shaft one as pictured in the eBay above and a short shaft one as in the OP's photo. There is also an extension getting around that converted the the short shaft into a long shaft but I don't know if Yanmar made it or if it was aftermarket. The long shaft version was used if the engine was located deep in an engine bay or cover. The end nearest the handle had to be supported via a hole or similar in the engine bay surround.

[mowerandy]

Yanmar engine crank handle. Designed for a two-dog crank. Disengages promptly whatever the engine does...

[Ribman]

I'm not necessarily saying it is a yanmar specific handle and agree that a 37 foot boat would probably not be powered by something which could be cranked by hand, but it could have cranked something else. Maybe a generator.
Looking closely at the OP'S photo it is easy to see that it could have cranked an engine in either direction without worrying about kick back.
On my old yanmar there was a pencil diameter peg on the end of the crankshaft pulley parallel to the plane of the pulley.
When the hand crank was installed the peg rested between the 90 degree face of the tool and the 45 degree. As the tool was rotated force was applied to the crankshaft by the 90 degree face and when the motor started the crankshaft would press against the 45 degree face lifting the tool from the motor.
If you look closely at the original photo I believe you can see the rounded area at the apex of the 45 and 90 degree faces which would fit the "pencil diameter " t.

[buzzstar]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Sorry to disappoint you all but it is a Yanmar engine crank and is used on the the YSx series engines and probably on others series of similar vintage. These could be purchased as a purely hand start option (no stater motor , no alternator, no instrument panel etc). There is one under a mates house down the road!

Yanmar used a chain drive off a PTO shaft and the chain cog on the this shaft had a racket arrangement so that the turning force could only be applied when the hand crank force was greater than the torque from the PTO shaft. Thus as soon as the engine started, the chain would no longer rotate. Unless of course you could apply more than 6 Hp to the crank handle

I'm currently rebuilding a YSE 8 and it has this raised chain hand start arrangement using this crank handle

Yanmar made two versions of this style crank. A long shaft one as pictured in the eBay above and a short shaft one as in the OP's photo. There is also an extension getting around that converted the the short shaft into a long shaft but I don't know if Yanmar made it or if it was aftermarket. The long shaft version was used if the engine was located deep in an engine bay or cover. The end nearest the handle had to be supported via a hole or similar in the engine bay surround.

Photos are worth a thousand or so words. Please post some. Perhaps views similar to those from the OP. Thanks.

[buzzstar]

Not so much as a confirmation or denial or any position, but I truly wonder why a hand crank for an engine would provide for rotation in either direction. Yes, I understand maintenance, etc., but the engine will start in only one direction, and that is the real purpose of a hand crank for a marine or automobile engine.

[AbelCMann]

Originally Posted by SSgtPitt

Soon as you sell it or get rid of it you know what happens...........right?

I keep finding odd devices on my 35 year old boat. Eventually the veil is lifted and a shining beam of light illuminates that wierd part just when I need it most.

I agree with this post. I have learned to not throw away anything I find on my boat until I know what it is -

[Ribman]

Actually many engines are perfectly happy to run in forward or reverse and the reason for this might be obvious if you think about the direction you might want to go.

[nautitrix]

I don't normally get involved in conversations have deteriorated as this one has, but look at it folks it is a hand crank for starting a small diesel!!!
To those of you who have never started an engine by hand I truly feel sorry for your lack of experience. My diesel is 30 horse and has a ratcheted start chain- drive off of a geared shaft to turn the crank and start by hand. No big deal with a compression release. People who think you can't hand start an engine large enough to run a 37 foot boat are guilty of never trying. I have also started 40 horsepower gas engines with my bare hands off the sides of the flywheel and 200 horse-power evinrude outboards with a rope on the fly-wheel. I am always amazed at how we limit ourselves by our false and untested beliefs.
You are all much more capable than you give yourselves credit for. Slowly spin an engine to fuel up the cylinders, push it past the second compression stroke roll it back till hard and let-er-fly with all your will and heart. The decompression lever is there to help if you need to get it moving. The fellow who started tractors on gas was a great remembrance as at one time we used tube able to get a diesel kit for 40 hp outboards. start 'em with a rope start on gasoline, get them hot and kick in the diesel, away she'd go.
I can't be the only one still on the water who remembers the time before we let the machine master us?

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Ribman

Actually many engines are perfectly happy to run in forward or reverse and the reason for this might be obvious if you think about the direction you might want to go.

True of some 2 stroke engines, not true of 4 stroke engines.. Essentially all of the small diesels under discussion are 4 stroke, and will not run backwards.

Jim

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

True of some 2 stroke engines, not true of 4 stroke engines.. Essentially all of the small diesels under discussion are 4 stroke, and will not run backwards.



Jim

Many years ago Harley Davidson manufactured golf carts, they were two stroke and the differential was belt driven. I remember as a kid trying to figure out how it went into reverse, and with the seat up I saw that it actually ran backwards with a starter that ran backwards and I believe was also the generator.
Anyway as of course an engine with say 10 degrees of spark advance won’t run backwards worth a crap as that would be 10 degrees retarded, Harley solved this by having two sets of points.

I think some big ship Diesels are direct drive and may have to be shut down and restarted in reverse to go backwards?

[Ribman]

Sorry if my posts may be detiorating this thread. Please mentally insert many smily emojis and remove any hint of snarkiness.

[captsue]

how big? ... does it fit in the palm of your hand? ... does the handle have a sleeve that spins? ... it looks like the handle to an old fishing reel.

[Ribman]

I know it's not part of the original post but of course another reason for opposite direction for the engines to run would be in the event of a twin engine installation and which counter-rotating props are quite common

[Midnight Son]

A64Pilot
Controllable Pitch Propeller