Agreed, nothing nicer than good quality parts in your hand and about to be transplanted into a good iron horse.

Glad you got one you like, yes customer service sucks everywhere now unfortunately.. It's annoying and tragic.

I was recently lementing paying my phone bill with some smart- axx robot.. And remembered when AT&T had awesome super hot philipino girl call center.. Every one answered 2 ring with a sultry voice and they were actually really good at their jobs and so helpful.. I loved having a phone problem.

Well last time I called was sad, dipsxxt dudes from India, not even able to almost speak English. Horrible at their job, you could tell, it was one of those that they don't work for any 1 company - but a dozen, and they say hi welcome to 'looks at screen' AT&T.. How can't I help you.

Bought a Verizon Sim card same day.

Well it sucks, but at least rock auto has good quality parts - bad too, but just have to pick and choose / do your research.. But they really do have the good stuff..

 

I for one love that their prices are half or close to half as the local auto parts store, and I've had really good luck returning stuff because it was faulty/incorrect

I see how some like to spend there money locally to support jobs and such but service type jobs aren't the ones we need folks

 

Let us know how those battery cables are when they show up. I've ordered from RockAuto before, you need to make sure they don't charge you shipping 3 times. It seems like all the parts I order come from 3 different warehouses.

 

It will tell you that as you are selecting parts. Sometimes you can try a different brand of the same part to get it to come from one place, but often times closeout stuff, or certain brands are only in one place. If they are shipping things from 3 places, of course you should pay for 3 shipping charges, I know it sucks, but thats no different from ordering from 3 different companies in different locations. They can't have it all in one place...

 

I agree if the parts come form different wear houses, you will pay extra shipping even if the part was free shipping.

I ordered an Oil cooler from Parts Geek, it was a Motor Craft OC. Picture showed the 4 O Rings. When it arrived, no O Rings.
Contacted them they said it was just a random picture and I would have to source the O Rings else where.
Cheapest was US Diesel, $7.05, so ordered 4 packages, $15.00 shipping. ordered the extra packages in case I screwed up
pressing on the end caps and to have some on hand.

O Rings came from Gomers wear house up in Montana.

The paper gaskets from Parts Geek came from a different wear house, so additional shipping.

I could have ordered them from Rock Auto with shipping, but figured it was $7 cheaper going with PG. Cost me quite a bit more.

I learned from this to call and find out exactly who, what, why etc.... Some times it might be cheaper to buy locally.
But I didn`t want an after mkt Oil Cooler. But it is what it is. Live and learn. Still cheaper than taking it in to a shop.


Charlie

 

The fit is close enough for gubbmint work. It errs on the long side. Better than being too short! The lead across the top of the radiator support is too long. It may be that my left battery is installed backwards. Anybody have a pic? Were I to reverse the left battery, the lead across the top would be just about right. As it is, I have the positive pole on the inside and the negative towards the fender. It came that way when I bought it.

I had to put the ring for the starter motor in a vice and bend it so that it was mostly flat. It came with a 90 degree bend that would not fit our starter. That may be due to the gear driven starter I installed last year. Not sure, didn't take pics back then.

But in general the wire is big and thick and well built, weighs a lot. No complaints. The lead over to the starter solenoid on the right inner fender is much thicker than what came with the truck, apparently. All the better. It's clear to me now that the PO fab'd up the thinner cables that were on the truck. He was a heavy diesel mechanic and probably had shop access to cable-making supplies.

She started up vigorously today, already cranking better, but it was a warm day. Tomorrow morning we'll see how it goes. I'll also post pics.

 

My 86 Battery on the left side has the Negative cable on the fender side
and Positive on the Radiator side.

Charlie

 

x2

Good that it started easy. Hoping for the best tomorrow!

 

OK guys, she started up quicker this morning, cranked faster I mean. She almost always fires within a second. If y'all say this is the correct position for my batteries, I'll just have to wire tie the extra cable down securely to deal with the lazy bends I have at either side. This is two pictures put together.

 

Finally got to the bottom of this problem. New cables, copper conductive grease, new batteries, all made the cranking a bit better, but still slow. There was nothing left to suspect but the starter, which is a "lifetime warranty" reman from O'Reilly. Hmmm

I wangled with O'Really for a week, brought them the truck, had them listen to it cranking, showed them the shiny new batteries and cables (which I didn't buy from them because they were out of stock or overpriced) and finally got them to agree to replace it under warranty.

The first time I called, they said they had it and I went there, but they didn't, they'd sent it back for some reason. The second time I called, went to get it and it was the wrong starter. The third time finally they got the right starter. I asked does this reset my warranty again? No no, you only get one, said the manageress, even though theirs was defective! I should have got it from NAPA.

I honestly don't know how O'Really stays in business. They seem to hire workers for minimum wage who are hanging out at the vape store or the tattoo shop. Nobody gives a crap, often they're just staring at their phone, and they don't know spit about parts. There's just a couple people in there that seem to know the difference between a circlip and a screwdriver. The manageress didn't even know what a circlip was, I had to school her. If it's this bad in a small town in the Texas country, I can't imagine how bad it is in the big cities.

I just installed the replacement and she cranks over really sweetly now.


The offending reman starter. What's it good for? HUUUAH, absolutely nothin', say it again....

 

It wasn't until the third or fourth starter I got from O'Reilly (got the lifetime own style reman) until it cranked right and didn't die within a month or two.

That same starter has been on for four years now. I haven't ever cut it any slack and it just keeps going. It's more of a roll of the dice than anything and that's why I got the lifetime warranty..

I recently got a new set of 1000 cranking amp batteries and it whips over just as fast as anything they're pushing out today.

Most starters don't benefit from the version of gear reduction (factory style does use gear reduction just a planetary version) but the improved efficiency of the field coils. Less power draw to do the same amount of work and your batteries have that much more left to feed them.

I used to never know jack about starters, now that I do the slow cranking one you had could most likely be fixed with a simple clean and grease. I'm a pretty big fan of that style too (identical to what the cummins use just diff bolt pattern) the solenoid is heavier and last longer/flows more amperage.

Glad to hear you got it fixed. If it's got a lifetime warranty you should be able to use it indefinitely. Don't let those ****** tell you otherwise.

 

x3

I keep all of my receipts from O'Reilly and I've swapped some lifetime warranty parts multiple times.

I agree that the kids working at auto parts stores today don't know anything; but then again, I was in their shoes 20 years ago. I shop at O'Reilly most of the time because I used to work there (different location of course) and because it was the "go to" parts store my dad and I used when I learned to turn a wrench as a teen.

 

Vaping and wasting your money on piercings/tattoos? I doubt it. Kids today are mostly raised fatherless, and they are lost. Most folks under 30 now don't have $1000 in the bank.

I started a paper route at 13, got up every day at 3:30, so made enough to buy a 1967 Mustang GT convertible at 16. My did kicked in half. Having a dad to give you tough love or even kick your butt when needed is something lacking for today's youth. Now days, Dad moved on after Mom took the house, his savings, half of his salary and the kids in Family Court. Can you blame Dads?