[slumlord]

Those of you who tinker a bit probably have discovered a small engine that was plugged with old gas or not making spark. Of course, they are a bit fun to work on and it is pretty satisfying to hear one light off. I had a really old Japanese Briggs heavily rusted on the flywheel to the extent that it would not make spark. Once I removed the heavy cast flywheel, the cleaned up magnets held promise after a finger compression test. I put in the spark plug and drove the bare flywheel with a Milwaukee drill, the only drill I had that would turn it.
A very tiny amount of carb cleaner was spritzed down the spark plug hole. Then the damn thing lit off for three cycles and over-ran the drill and socket, unwinding the retaining crankshaft nut. Five pounds of angry iron with cast iron curved air fins came off the tapered shaft, bounced off the engine frame and ATE my hand. Clean to the bone in the 4th finger of my right hand. So bruising, pain , and blood. It has been over a month, and I have been tending it every day. The skin has to be kept clean and cut away the dead stuff and all that.
People have broken their battery drills, sprained their hands , but it still will happen so long as the you tubers keep showing it. Here is a good little movie showing why Not to do it. Cheers.

 

[slumlord]

Those of you who tinker a bit probably have discovered a small engine that was plugged with old gas or not making spark. Of course, they are a bit fun to work on and it is pretty satisfying to hear one light off. I had a really old Japanese Briggs heavily rusted on the flywheel to the extent that it would not make spark. Once I removed the heavy cast flywheel, the cleaned up magnets held promise after a finger compression test. I put in the spark plug and drove the bare flywheel with a Milwaukee drill, the only drill I had that would turn it.
A very tiny amount of carb cleaner was spritzed down the spark plug hole. Then the damn thing lit off for three cycles and over-ran the drill and socket, unwinding the retaining crankshaft nut. Five pounds of angry iron with cast iron curved air fins came off the tapered shaft, bounced off the engine frame and ATE my hand. Clean to the bone in the 4th finger of my right hand. So bruising, pain , and blood. It has been over a month, and I have been tending it every day. The skin has to be kept clean and cut away the dead stuff and all that.
People have broken their battery drills, sprained their hands , but it still will happen so long as the you tubers keep showing it. Here is a good little movie showing why Not to do it. Cheers.

Well, sorry to post it here as I thought I was in another area. I have also seen wrenched working on motorcycles and turning the small stuff with drill motors. so if the mods want to move it, then fine.

 

[ketchboy]

Back when I was racing Karts, we used to start our engines that way, with a MAJOR difference. We would use an automotive starter motor. Pull the guts out and turn it 180 degrees. That way it spins correctly. Attach it to a piece of metal, with handles on the sides. One handle will have a starter button. Hook the starter motor up to a car battery and hit the button. The Bendix will release the starter once the engine kicks over. Very simple and a lot less dangerous than what you went thru. Heal up, Amigo. We all make mistakes. Too bad that one caused you a lot of pain.

 

[Retired Guy]

Just thinking how you fubar'ed your hand is enough, I hope, to keep me from trying that. ?

 

[hogcowboy]

I did that once. Sounded like a good idea in my head. I got lucky. I used a very old drill so when it kicked the socket went flying and bouncing off everything in sight. Little ding marks on anything metal. Just missing an empty jar. It worked but I don’t think the socket missed me by anymore than an inch. Nice whirling sound as it went by. Not done it like that since. ???

 

[Retired Guy]

Got my right hand in to the fan on an old Ford pickup years ago. My hand wasn't as banged up as bad as yours.
Sorry to hear what happened to you but appreciate the warning.

 

[Unkle Krusty]

Yikes, bummer.
A guy I know who built his own V twin road race bike, starts the engine with a drill. I was operating the throttle when he did it. But he will have had a ratcheting device to prevent a disaster like yours. Most of the track guys have a roller for the rear wheel. Traditionalists push and bump start.

You need a ratcheting device ( override clutch ) for the early Ford tractors, when using a bush hog ( mower ) so the mower does not drive the tractor.

UK

 

[SemiFast]

Here is something else we should not do...
When checking an engine for spark, of course you'll have the spark plug grounded.
A service tech I know had the spark plug grounded near the spark plug hole. (Wrong). What he didn't know was that the engine/crankcase was FULL of gasoline. When he hit the start button, now called the "flame" button, he found spark, and a flame thrower too. The piston pushed a stream of fuel out thru the spark plug hole, the spark plug sparked, the fuel ignited. It was quite spectacular.
No one was hurt but he did get his beard trimmed and, a good talking to.

S F

 

[Retired Guy]

I hope he done that outside! I had a lawn mower that I didn't know if it was getting power to the spark plug. I couldn't pull the starter rope and hold the spark plug against the engine at the same time.

So I yelled "Honey, come help me!" when she came out I said "Here, hold this." Then I gave the starter rope a good yank. It's hard to get her to help me anymore, but I did get that mower running. ?

 

[mike721]

Damn, sorry to hear you got hurt doing that, in hindsight I can see how that could happen but it does seem like a good idea at first thought. Kind of like something stupid I did many years ago..

I had an old beater convertible Mustang, 68 i think, it was a real POS, unimportant things fell off from time to time I was going down the road one day and hit a big bump and heard something dragging so I stopped, looked under the car and found the starter had broken near the mounting bolts, and was dragging on the road! Good, it's only a starter, but unfortunately I had already shut the engine off, it's an automatic so no push starting it so now what?
I had the bright idea of jacking up the car, crawling under and trying to hold the broken pieces of starter in place, hoping that the jagged break would provide enough friction long enough so that it could start, then I could tie the starter up out of the way with something and drive home to fix it. I explained the process, crawled under the car, got the starter wedged in position, braced myself and yelled up to my passenger to turn the key. As soon as she did that things got very interesting...
Of course the starter has about 10000000 foot pounds of torque and twisted right out of my hand, smashed my hand against the engine, shorted out to something making a big flash of sparks which made me cringe, close my eyes and drop it and then 20 pounds of starter promptly swung down on the cable and smacked me in the head.
I ended up walking to the auto parts store to buy a new starter and changing it on the side of the road.

 

[Offcenter]

Thanks for the laughs! LOL!!!

 

[ketchboy]

OMG. That belongs in the 'Dumb things we have done' section, Mike. I know it hurt like hell, but that's some funny stuff there. LOL.

Something the three Stooges would do.

 

[SemiFast]

Of course the starter has about 10000000 foot pounds of torque and twisted right out of my hand, smashed my hand against the engine, shorted out to something making a big flash of sparks which made me cringe, close my eyes and drop it and then 20 pounds of starter promptly swung down on the cable and smacked me in the head.

Not funny, of course, at the time but now...... , , ....
Thanks for the laugh Mike

S F

 

[Critter]

Sorry Mike, but like the others I had to smile (actually LMAO) at your misfortune.

Slump I am sorry for your misfortune and this is on top of you accident as well.

 

[RogerC60]

Mike, that is one laugh out loud funny story, thanks for sharing.

Slumlord, nobody is laughing at your tale. It could have been worse; I'm glad it wasn't.

 

[slumlord]

Oh, laugh all you want. My skin is thick. In fact a little thicker at the scar. Now here, my friends, is a risk taker! Gotta love the auxiallary fuel tank from tractor supply. the lid is not even snapped on tight.

 

[Miss Mercedes]

Adds to list of things not to do when being a mad scientist

Another thing, if for some reason you've decided to take a grinder or Sawzall to some metal, you should wear all round protection. A friend managed to embed some fender metal in his arm when trimming his car to fit some big tires.