[mosesburb]

So I got the glass replaced on the 9th. I was lucky and the same guy that installed it last year replaced it this time. The guy was very good. He managed to get it out completely intact. He even had his doubts, but he pulled it off.

That put the truck back in service. My boy had the next week off from school. Fall break. I want a fall break. I get to do the old-man thing with the "you know, we didn't have those fall breaks when I was your age...." But I digress. I took Thursday off to get a few things done with a planned adventure for Friday. I had put the BFG M/T's on it on Sunday, but the thing that I didn't like about them is they threw my speedometer off by an unknown amount. So first thing Thursday morning, the boy and I head down to get the speedometer corrected. What I did was I had them regear another correction box so I have one for the street tires and one for the muds. After that we headed over to the Mom and Pop parts house that I use. It oftentimes ends up as much of a social call as a parts run, but this time I actually remembered everything I needed. So we got our parts and headed over to my favorite bolt store to pick up some inventory. After buying waaaaay too much inventory (always happens there), we head over to Cabelas to get a few supplies for our Friday adventure. We get in and get out and all is well. That is until I go to start the Suburban. Yup, you guessed it, nothing. No click, no rrrrr, nothing. Just like a few weeks ago. It had not acted up since--no problems at all.

Well, this is not good. I have my boy crawl over and hit the key when I say so. I grabbed the hammer that I installed under the seat and ever-so-lightly tap the starter and the thing cranks and starts instantly (as usual). Hmm, a starter issue on a Friday adventure could be a real, real bad thing. I make a call to a friend at the mom and pop parts house and he is going to bring a starter home. We get home and I pull the starter out so it is ready to go. I then find out that the flight my MIL is on is coming in earlier than I thought. I have to take the Sub because my wife went to some appointment and left me and the boy at the house to pick up her mom. I need the Suburban all of a sudden. Er, uh, but it's got no starter man!!

So my buddy forgets the starter at the store. D'oh!! This is really not good now. He saves the day by having a co-worker bring it home with him (what chain stores would do this for you??) and I pick it up. I throw it in (almost literally) and I ask my boy if he thinks it will work. He says yes, and i say I hope so. I hit the key and we are in business. It actually sounds great. The old started had been going for awhile--possibly before I bought the motor. The new starter throws the motor over with no effort at all. I pulled my heavy-duty contacts out of my old starter and put them in a bag for possible future use.

Of all the things that Cummins did with their motor nothing confuses me more than the bolts they used on the starter. Every bolt on the motor is a reduced hex, flange head bolt. Every single one--except three. The three that hold the starter to the engine. Those three are reduced diameter flange head TWELVE POINT bolts. Why in the world would they do that?? Well, when I assembled this thing I could not bring myself to install those so I go the proper grade 10.9 reduced hex flange head bolts instead. How goofy to need a special socket just for that.