Posted By Donald Glover on 03/13/2010 12:22 PM
Not to disrupt the "flow" of this thread but that's a nice SD. Looks cleaner than my newly laundered underpants[/quote]

 

I gave up on underpants so I have no basis for comparison :(

Tom and Andy - I flip flop on mods every day. My wife thinks I should armor this one to the hilt and start with 33's, because she knows a) we live close to the Rubicon and b) I will go there regardless of how much crap is or isn't on the truck. Hmmm.

 

So, we had the first being-stranded scare yesterday. The whole family was loaded up for some errands; we were at the mini-storage dropping some things off, and had just returned from the mall where we had bad sushi. The sushi experience was miserable, and we were all kicking ourselves for having gone there. Well, even less pleased was the Disco. More pavement. More malls. More mini-storage. Where's the dirt, Ike?

I hit the starter and it groaned, then nothing. Hitting the ignition - nothing. An awful noise was present, like the fans running with rusty bearings.  I get that old, awful sinking feeling of being stuck with a dead Land Rover.  With all of us in there, deep down in the burbs of the peninsula at the mini-storage.    I open up the hood, and the noise is coming from the direction of the starter. Yay. Disconnected the battery, noise stops. Reconnect battery, more noise. I start having visions of grabbing the hammer and giving it some love taps. My wife says "really? are you kidding?" I panic and call Scott. Scott says - "starter solenoid is stuck. Give it a few taps with a hammer." YESSS! Thanks Scott! "hear that, baby? HAMMERTIME!"

I grab the hammer, eager to conduct the first field mechanical recovery exercise. Problem. Truck is loooowww. Problem. Truck is wearing running boards. Problem. Truck mental image matching mall experience. I can't get under the damb thing to see the starter. Revise the approach, and slither under there from the front. Ooohhh la lahh - there's that leaking steering box! YESS. the heat shield is protecting the starter solenoid very well. Rats. Plan C - beat shield into starter solenoid from above. BANG BANG BANG - yeah! this is starting to look more like Ike's Truck! BANG BANG BANG! Reconnected the power, it is still on, but withers in 20 seconds. Fires up, wife stops looking for tow service.

 

New starter on it's way, shortly!

 

cheers

-ike