Carrier Starter Handle Extension Bars

[Jared Archibald]

Good morning everyone,

a quick note before I go bush for a few days.

I have been wondering about the starter bar extensions that are a part of the CES of Aussie Carriers (and Universals too but I am not sure of that?).

I have had one now for some years that I purchased. I recently straightened a slight bend in it and thought I would try it out on an old SV V8 I had out the back - guess what - it doesn't fit!! The end diameter of the bar is too large to fit into the crank pulley nut.

I went and saw an old mate of mine who has been a mechanic since the late 1940s. He had two different length bars, and a car type wheel wrench that doubles as the handle for the stater bar. See photo. He said that there was also one other size - longer than the two in the pic. The two in the pic are 20 1/4 inches and 23 1/2 inches long.

I then checked a Ford Spare Parts Manual I have from October 1940 - it states there are six different "Extension - Starting Crank" - all for different Ford models. It gives no sizes.

The illustrated carrier parts manual does not give a dimension on the extension - it just includes it with the starter handle.

To make it even more interesting, I am sure I have read somewhere that the original extensions supplied with carriers were replaced with longer ones so that knuckles were not crunched on the centre towing eye during hand cranking. (The idler plate wrench was also superseded to give more clearance to knuckles from the tracks during track adjustment).

Can anyone shed some light on this part please? Pictures and lengths would be great. I would also love to get hold of a starter handle if anyone has a spare to swap. Failing this I will make one if the dimensions could be posted on the forum.

Jared (already 23 degrees and 89% humidity at 0700 hrs - it is going to be a hot one today)