In my day to day life, I regularly handle fifty-pound sacks of feed and sixty-pound bales of Alfalfa; and, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on estimating the weight of things.

The Starter on these trucks, crawling around under there on the #5 Limestone rocks with greasy chunks of stuff falling in my eyes and barely room to move my arms, I had the Starter guesstimated at sixty-pounds or more.

While I had it out in the daylight, I decided to answer the mystery once and for all = I decided to lay the thing on the Fairbanks & Morse and just see where things stand.

I first thought something surely was wrong with the scales; so, I stepped up on there and weighed myself, pistol boots belt-buckle and all --- 272 --- I weighed a fifty-pound sack of feed --- 48-pounds - I tried another - 48-pounds; I weighed the starter again --- three times --- each time it weighed exactly what it did the first time = a ridiculously puny little 22.4-pounds --- something surely can't be right; I mean, that thing will fall through the bottom of a thick card-board box like an anvil falling through the bottom of a john-boat and fall on your big toe so hard that you will throw up your guts --- 22.4-measly pounds --- I don't believe it...

 

I swapped out starters 4 times the other day try to find out why my project truck was turning over so slowly.

My arm was running out of strength holding that thing in position and starting the bolts after a bit.

Turns out my old used starters where fine....the ground wire I had attached to my motor was getting a crap connection.

 

Coming from the perspective of a guy that spent a career changing starters from 40MT and up. When we went to 39 series open gear on the highway trucks, they were great! Super light and easy to handle.
the gear reduction units on the b series don’t even rate a mention when it comes to holding them up there and starting bolts. Not saying its a good time, but definitely not in the top ten list of ugly jobs.
Anything that can be lifted and held in place with one hand, is a great piece to change. Hahahahaha

 

You need to read THIS

 

I had a starter hit me in the face once. Not something I care to repeat.

 

I can imagine.

Just this Thursday, I was under the truck, chasing the starter bolt threads with a tap before I put in my new studs.

As it is impossible to use any sort of tap wrench due to all the hundreds of things badly in the way, I was turning the tap with a big pair of genuine Peterson Vise Grips.

I was doing the highest bolt hole when I somehow butterfingered and let the Vise Grips get away from me.

I must have seen them coming and in order to instinctively protect my eyes, I turned my head sideways.

That heavy pair of Vise Grips slammed straight into my left ear, points first.

It felt like a mare mule had kicked me in the head; it knocked me senseless.

Then I realized blood was spurting from inside my ear.

For a moment, due to the amount of blood and how badly it was hurting, I thought "I am going to lay right here and die under this truck"

I didn't; I crawled out and stumbled and staggered into the house/bathroom and wrapped a clean washcloth over my finger and pressed it in my ear hole and held it until the blood finally quit pouring out and running down my neck.

Before staunching it with the wash-cloth, it was spurting out with every heart beat.

The rubber mat I was laying on under the truck looked like you had chopped off a chicken's head.

My shirt looked like I had been killing hogs; as did my head and my hair.

For the rest of that night and most of the day yesterday, not just the one, but both ears hurt badly; and, the one that got hit had that feeling you get when swimming under water and you get water in your head.

My balance has always been the best part of me but I had to really concentrate to keep from stumbling and staggering around.

Still today, a Q-Tip swabbed around in the ear that bled comes away black with dried blood.

This very well may have ruint me for now and all time to come.

Maybe while things are still out of whack I should see if I can get on some kind of check --- a steady check coming in would sure be a big help.

 

You were having exactly the reverse of my situation this week.

For ages and ages, I was certain I had some sort of connection/cable issue and it turns out my problem was two of the brushes frozen solid in their holders and the commutator black as the bottom of Blue Devil #5.

That starter never ever "clicked"; not once; just sluggish like a weak battery.

She whirls her over now with complete authority; the engine is running before I can release the starter-button.

It sure is embarrassing when one sluggishly cranks over like you have forgot and left all the lights on or something; bystanders don't know that I can leave everything electric on and never draw a speck from the starting batteries.

 

Bearkiller: You might want to go see an ENT doc with that ear. I just got a bloody nose which was bad enough but an arterial bleed in the ear is deadly serious.

Edwin