All right folks, my starter is flat out toast, and it needs to come out. Here's the issue, top bolt seems to be partly blocked by the housing of the gear reduction starter. I did a search on here for starter under the IDI section, got 34 pages of results, none seemed to have the info i needed.

How in the blazes do you guys get that top bolt out? I need to dig through my tools and see if I have a crows foot that fits the bolt, because it seems to be the only possible option. I cannot get a socket onto the bolt head, I cannot fit a wrench from the outside, and I'm afraid my power of telekinesis is rather on the weak side.

Here is a picture of my starter from right behind the engine crossmember.


That's the closest I've been able to maneuver the socket in, even with using a long wobble extension.

Is a crowsfoot going to be my only option?

 

it is a mother to get that bolt out.
but once you have it out, it will go rite in when you put the new starter in.
long extensions and a lot of swearing is how i do it.
i am on my 5th starter in the 88, and have never figured out an easier way to do it.

 

I was looking through the other pictures I blindly took in there. Some make it look like I'm just a blind jackass, yet for the life of me I could not get the socket over there. I haven't tried my swivel yet, today's heat was just killin me, quit early. Gonna go out and try it again come daylight

 

Why does your starter have a dorsal fin?

You need a long enough, or several extensions so the socket wrench clears the backside of the starter. That allows the extension(s) to ride parallel to the starter motor thereby giving you a straight shot at the bolt.

 

Ive never noticed that fin. I have never struggled with it too bad, i use a foot long extension and usually get it out no problem.

 

i use a 24 inch extension because it is either a stack of 6 inchers, or the 24.

 

I had so much trouble with mine that I just unbolted the motor from the gear-reduction unit and just swapped that.
My two units seemed to be similar enough, and it's been working fine for over a year now, so...

 

On my 94 4x4 after taking the whell-well cover out you could see the top bolt through a hole in or around the frame. Then using an extension and socket that is a couple of inches longer than the starter you can get into it. Easiest way for me was to sit under the fender of the truck and reach up under the frame with one hand while looking above the frame to see what I was doing. Also a tip on putting it back on you can use a little electrical tape to keep the bolt attached to the socket.

 

I can get in the vicinity of that bolt with 2 long extensions straight back over the engine cradle. The problem is getting it onto that bolt lol.

The good news is that once this starter is out, this problem goes away. The new starter is the compact setup (and higher kW too), and I'll be able to get any wrench or socket combo onto that top bolt should I need to again.

 

lol theres quite a few idi's running around with a two bolt starter. I know when I did mine I used a few long extentions and a universial.... then im fairly sure I broke the starter casting..lol

 

Finally got the dirty rat out. Had to go buy a 2nd swivel, but finally got it. Thank god the new starter is a compact setup...

 

I fought with that bolt for about 30 minutes to an hour before I got it. Like everyone else I just used a long extention and let my fingers be my eyes since I kept knocking dirt in my real ones To aid in putting in the new starter, you can try and take the passenger wheel off.

 

The way I got it was to pull the starter motor out of the starter body. There is no way this would have happened otherwise. Not enough room for me to stick my arm between the starter and engine to finger the bolt, cold only just touch the head of the bolt from the outside. But once the motor was out of the body I could reach around the body and hold the socket and swivels into place on the bolt head.

 

New starter in. Took all of 2 minutes including attaching the wires. Why couldn't the old starter have been that awesome?

Once the JB Weld cures on the oil pan I can finally fill it back up with oil and fire it up. Had to chisel a retarded layer of jbweld off to find cracked welds where the previous owner attempted to weld a patch over a hole he made. Guy must not have done a good job on cleanup before he welded....

 

I never had to use a swivel on one of these starters, but then I never had one with a dorsal fin. Looks like that was put there just to make life hard.