Mystery hole...Starter?

So I cut the front bumper off, it was too hacked up. And in the rear, welded over seems to be a hole, around 1" big. I've seen numerous early JEEP's with this hole.
On my engine on one of the pullys nut that's on the crank, the nut has a bar across it. Putting 2 and 2 together in the ol' cage I can only speculate this is for a hand crank starter. Am I right? If so... Does someone have one I could see a picture of? I know they're dangerous, I'm just thinking for the uh oh bad starter moments it may be handy.
Thanks

 

Oh, and I know of pop starting too.

 

The hole in the rear bumper would have been for pto or possible a rotating pintle. Not sure on the hand crank.

 

I just re-read what I posted... I meant in the rear of the front bumper covered up long day today

 

Ya, you could get a hand crank for the engine, never used one i'm sure is not dangerous or Ralph Nator would have had somthing to say about it.

 

X2 (or 3?) on the hand crank hole.

hand cranking is really not as bad as everyone thinks. We did it on the farm with 3 of our tractors regularly and I still do with the tractor I have now. With a 6 volt system, you just don't get the spin on the starter that you do with 12 volts. I can actually spin my tractor with the crank faster than I can turn it over with the starter.

Its all in the technique. You only put one hand on the crank (right hand) and you put ALL your fingers (and especially your thumb) on the outside of the handle. Never grip the handle like a baseball bat with the thumb wrapped around it. If it does "kick back" and your thumb is wrapped around, you will never do it again. I have heard of broken thumbs because of it. If you keep your thumb on the outside and it kicks back, you hand will slide off and you can try again.

 

My grandfather told me the same thing about his old tractor... R)

 

now the question should be can you find one of these hand crank starters?

 

Thats what's nice about the ol CJ - there is the hand throttle cable to set the R's up a bit. That makes it easier to hand crank. I always set my tractor around 1/2 throttle and 1/4 choke when cold. Most times it'll start on the first spin, 99% of the time by the 2nd spin!

 

Neat! Well I heard the "broken up bodies" stories of Model T's but never thought of a tractor, I suppose they were the main users too.
My engine is indeed an MB engine so it does have that bar. No one wanted the engine, I advertised for it, so it's staying with me. Leads me to want the crank starter.

Oh, and, Steve, I was gonna test compression with a socket and wrench R)

 

If you had used a ratchet, wouldn't the socket just have spun if it caught/started? It would seem that it would be the safest way to actually use a hand crank.

 

I had no battery/ carb/manifolds/ dist, so it would have been a feat of epic proportions if it had started R)
But it turns out you can run a 6v starter with a 12v.

 

I have a crank handle for my MB. It is also freshly rebuilt, so it has good compression. I like to crank start it. You only have to crank 1/4 turn. Don't forget to pump the gas and turn the ignition on first though!

 

BTDT with a chansaw
My engines an MB like I said and its gonna get rebuilt hopefully this month, so it should work.
May I see a picture of the starter?

 

Sorry for the delay , here are some pics.

First you need to have this nut on your crankshaft pulley. (This our GPW engine)


Crank handle installed in the MB.