Started on the second try this morning. Starter should be here from RockAuto today. Actual Motorcraft starter, at least $10 cheaper than any of the cheap dealership parts sites.

 

i guess this could have been worse, you could be still diagnosing the issue and not see any obvious reason. 12.2V is pretty low, esp. if you got the AGM.

 

Happy New Year everyone!

Got home from work yesterday and it was 45 degrees out. Decided I probably wouldn't get a nicer day to do the job outside. After reading accounts of impossible to remove starters and having to jack up the engine and take out engine mount bolts, I was a bit worried. I let my wife know it'd be maybe an hour?

Got the front end up on ramps and got started.



Took out the two starter mounting bolts and slid the starter backwards...right into the engine mount. Here we go...rotated it a bit, dropped the front down a smidge, and the bottom aimed downward. I was able to get the two wires off of the front of the starter, then slid the assembly back and it dropped right out.







New one went in the same way. Well...I got the two bolts in before I remembered that the ground went under the lower bolt, so I took that bolt back out and got the ground in place. Then I remembered that it's much easier to access the wires when I can point the starter down - when it's installed, the engine mount prevents access for a normal ratchet. So I pulled both bolts out, rotated the starter down, connected the wires, and put everything back.

Fifteen minute job maybe? Reconnected the battery and it started right up.

 

Did an oil change yesterday and when the truck was out of its normal parking spot I noticed some dots on the driveway...looks like the rear diff is dripping. My slapdash gasketless install clearly didn't hold, time to order up another bottle of the friction compound and maybe a new diff cover?

 

When I was ordering the replacement fluid/diff cover, I decided to get new rear shocks, too. The existing shocks were not OEM, I'm betting the originals fell victim to the gravel roads this thing obviously spent a lot of time on. The rear's been clunky and/or bouncy so might as well upgrade.

I went with the Fox Adventure series, which are a standard monotube non-rebuildable design like a Rancho or Bilstein, and is priced comparably.



I did also pick up the deflector shields, seems like a no-brainer to keep the shock shaft protected. I'm now realizing that the other brands come with boots in the first place...