by hand no unless your truck has no compression.there is a plug some wear on the trans adapter that you can pull out and use a tool called a barring tool to turn the engine over with. here is what it looks like.

but for that price check around and see if you could rent one or maybe borrow on from a shop.also if you can ever get it running again there is a small plug on top of the oil filter housing that you can pull and install a mechanical oil pressure gauge to. sorry that i am not much help.wish you live closer. also thanks for the kind words. i would love to get back in and do my last 8 years so i could have 20 years in.thanks Bobby

 

Thanks Bobby. This was a lot of help. I have hope now, knowing that you can't just put a wrench on it and turn it. Crazy mechanics that said you could. Well next week I am going to change the starter. See what it does. And then work on the oil pressure problem. I will let you all know.

 

DG, I think he has a really good idea with the manual pressure gauge. You can know immediately after startup if you have oil pressure or not.
If not you can shut it down and minimize any damage.
Still hoping it gets sorted out easily.

 

no problem glad i can help even if its not much. but have you talk to bob Wagner or Bryan at smarty about what your truck is doing? also before you spend your money on a new starter which is not cheep. I would pull it and have it tested.also do you have access to a 12 volt test light or multimeter? you will need some one to help you. but i would take the multimeter and hook it up to the small wire going to your starter. have some one try ans start the truck. you should get 12V on the little wire with the key in the start position.if you get voltage there and then truck wont turn over then i would look at the starter, but if you don't get 12v on that wire then you have a problem in your start circuit. also with the key off check the big positive wire going to the starter you should have 12+ on that wire.
also are you reading any codes with the smarty? or can the smarty even talk to the ecm?
here is a pic of wear the plug is you need to pull to hook up your oil pressure guage.its the little plug on top of the filter housing. hope that helps you.Bobby

 

so any new updates on what you have found? thanks Bobby

 

DG, Some good info here: http://www.turbodieselregister.com/f...97#post2336497

Don't know if it's relevant, but there could be some simularities.

 

Any updates on your truck?
Hoping its back on the road by now...