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My rebuilt engine is sitting on the floor waiting for me to get the chassis ready and I need to prep it for winter. I have a juryrigged hand crank that has one of the tangs broken and I cannot rotate the crank by hand even though the plugs are out. I want to coat the cylinder walls with MMO to prevent rusting in this wet northwest area.
Does anyone know where to purchase a handcrank or is there another way to rotate the crankshaft.

What year and engine?

You could try some leverage at the flywheel with something like a pry bar between the flywheel teeth and the crankcase but BE GENTLE - it's aluminum - and it's OLD. Better way is to find someone who can loan you the proper engine crank or one of those special tools that engages a span of flywheel teeth without having to leverage against the block. I'd bet any local transmission shop that's been in business for a couple of decades would have one of those flywheel tools. As to borrowing a crank, aren't there Packard owners in your immediate area with the same or similar engine?

1928 526 six cyl.

Not many early packard owners close by. I would like to purchase a crank if I could.
The transmission is attached at this point so working with the flywheel is not an option.
I probably should have restored the chassis before the engine but since I had to remove the engine anyway, I got it overhauled first.

There is a lot of 15 assorted cranks on ebay now. Maybe one would fit. If you do a search for Packard hand crank there is another unidentified single for about half the price of the entire lot buy it now price.

Hi rrhorton,

I faced something similar with my then non-running '28 5-26. I needed to rotate the engine for various reasons leading up to its first start in several years and didn't have a crank or know of one close by.

I took a spare 22mm impact socket I had lying around, loaded it into my bench vise and ground a 0.375" wide slot (0.5" deep or so) into either side with an angle grinder. I then lined the inside of the socket with a bit of rubber tape to keep it from chewing up the crank stud. That socket, a 1/2" drive extension, and a 24" breaker bar worked like a champ.

Put trans in HIGH gear and roatate the shaft of the trans to turn the engine????

I will try the socket mod tomorrow. Thanks for the idea.

I was presented with the same challenge. While I'm restoring my '32 I did not want it sitting around without seeing the cylinder walls were coated with oil. I used the socket approach.

I bought a 1/2" drive what I remember as a 7/8" socket. I used a hi speed rotary cut-off wheel to cut 2 notches in the the socket.

I use a breaking bar to turn over the engine every 3 months or so.

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Thanks to all for the suggestions. I did notch a socket and it worked like a charm.