Dead starting battery - no problem

[jha6av8r]

Or maybe your starter is out. Some times it just takes thinking through the problem.

http://truckviewtv.com/how-to-start-a-semi-truck-with-a-dead-battery/

 

[MarkBC]

Clever!

Probably need to have a manual transmission...

(Those guys in the developing world have more opportunities to be resourceful like this -- because they have fewer resources.)

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Doesn't look CalOSHA approved though.
Frank

 

[alano]

There is an old saying, "The more you know, the less you need." This site has helped me need less.

Alan

 

[Happyjax]

I had an old Austin Healy sprite I use to pop start all the time. Those were the days

 

[JaSAn]

Drove a '62 Valiant without a working starter, back and forth to work in Duluth, MN for 11 months by parking strategically on the hills. Rolled 8 blocks down 22nd avenue west one winter day, continually popping the clutch; wouldn't start...until I noticed I hadn't turned the key on
Don't think it would work well with an auto.

 

[Happyjax]

I did it once with dads Dodge Marauder. Was at the college and there was a nice hill (ending in a red light). I pulled it off but ya need a lots speed for that. Would not want to try that again....

 

[ski3pin]

What the guy in India is doing is a version of what one of these things does/did...

you are right, Mr. BC. Our old truck we sold a few months back had a crank for a backup start.

 

[jha6av8r]

you are right, Mr. BC. Our old truck we sold a few months back had a crank for a backup start.

My father had a half circle indentation in his jaw in addition to some missing teeth from an engine that kicked back while being cranked. I would think a Hi-Lift might have the same effect on one's jaw.

 

[craig333]

I bump start my Jeep all the time. Not sure that would work on my diesel.

 

[Foy]

Clever! Like it! Probably need a reasonably warm and "willing" to start diesel for this to work, and certainly the rotational mass of the tandem wheel to provide the force through the gearbox. I assume a driver in the cab held it in neutral and popped it into a medium-high gear once the guy on the ground got the wheel going.

Ahh, memories! Parking the '67 IH Scout backed-in at the upper corner of the Stadium Lot at Appalachian State University during the bitter cold winter of '76/'77, due to a weak battery and a dead-broke student who couldn't scrape up the $30 bucks needed for a good new one. Easily enough slope down on campus to get her rolling, even on the cold and badly flat-spotted nylon cord recapped snow tires. Back up the mountain where we lived, I had two ramps made of firewood and flat rocks which I'd back the Scout up on to in order to get a bit more boost for the short distance of flat gravel parking area before the driveway sloped away. Rather more interesting with a bunch of snow and ice on the driveway. Before I learned to use 3rd gear to start it, I slid into the ditch after jamming her into 1st, which was hard enough with an unsynchronized 1st gearbox in that 1960s Borg-Warner 3-speed at subzero temps. To be "rewarded" with a stuck truck I couldn't start up was definitely adding insult to injury.

Foy

 

[PaulT]

We had a 78 VW camper conversion. A common problem was a result of the 30+ feet of wire from the battery in the rear up to the steering column mounted switch and back to the starting solenoid. Over time, the solenoid needed more voltage to work and the long small wire had too much voltage drop to reliably pull it in, especially in warm weather. I got really good at push starting my bus, often at a service station where maneuvering room was limited. Needed only about 10 ft in front of bus to work

Turn the key to on,
Jump out.
Push the bus on the door frame to get it rolling..
Hop back in.
Depress the clutch.
Cram the transmission into 2nd or 3rd and pop clutch.
Repeat as required.

Love my Tundra where the slightest engagement of the starter results in running engine. Put 225,000 on that bus

Paul

 

[Lighthawk]

Nice one, Paul.
I used the same technique to start my Rambler when I worked at Sea World on San Diego. The parking lot was within a few degrees of dead flat, but I could get it to start bumping it into second.

 

[JaSAn]

Love my Tundra where the slightest engagement of the starter results in running engine.

One of the things that have improved with the modern vehicles is starting, especially in cold weather. My Ram will start without (too much) complaint after sitting out all night in -40° temperatures. I can remember getting up a couple of times a night to go out and start the old Valiant, to insure getting to work in the morning. Not to mention the gyrations I went through to get said Valiant started if I forgot to get up! Grandpa talked about draining the radiator and setting the bucket beside the stove in the kitchen overnight.