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Three different issues, opinions welcome

J_dude

J_dude

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Location
Southwest Saskatchewan
Ohh boy, good things come in threes or whatever the saying is šŸ¤£

So I pulled my right front tire off to replace the starter cable that melted in half yesterday (that was problem #1) and I discovered my wheel was about to fall off.. axle nut is a bit loose, lots of slop in the hub assembly (problem #2), can I just tighten the nut up for now? Till I can get a new assembly I guess. I know thereā€™s probably a reason itā€™s loose so tightening most likely isnā€™t a long term fix lol.

Problem #3 is the starter, sheā€™s loose... discovered that when I grabbed the cable to see where exactly it attached (loose heat shield was in the way, think itā€™s supposed to be bolted to the block? Maybe that makes problem #4 šŸ˜†) Anyway, too much oily grime to see what exactly is loose just yet, any ideas before I go back out there?
 
Apologies in advance for the all caps, but the emphasis is necessary...

DO NOT START THE TRUCK UNTIL THE STARTER IS SECURED TO THE BLOCK IN ALL 3 LOCATIONS

There is a starter bracket that mounts to the block and the end of the starter pointing to the front of the truck. Link to bracket here


Without this bracket securing the end of the starter, the casting where the starter bolts to the block can crack. If this happens an otherwise good engine is turned into scrap.

Once again, make sure both bolts towards the flywheel side of the starter are secured, and the starter bracket is secured to the block and starter.


It also sounds like you need a new wheel bearing/ hub assembly. Ball joints could be bad too. I would not recommend driving the truck until you have a new wheel bearing/ ball joints and verified that the slop is gone. Don't be a danger to yourself and others by knowingly driving with a bad steering/ suspension setup.
 
DieselAmateur said:
Apologies in advance for the all caps, but the emphasis is necessary...

DO NOT START THE TRUCK UNTIL THE STARTER IS SECURED TO THE BLOCK IN ALL 3 LOCATIONS

There is a starter bracket that mounts to the block and the end of the starter pointing to the front of the truck. Link to bracket here


Without this bracket securing the end of the starter, the casting where the starter bolts to the block can crack. If this happens an otherwise good engine is turned into scrap.

Once again, make sure both bolts towards the flywheel side of the starter are secured, and the starter bracket is secured to the block and starter.


It also sounds like you need a new wheel bearing/ hub assembly. Ball joints could be bad too. I would not recommend driving the truck until you have a new wheel bearing/ ball joints and verified that the slop is gone. Don't be a danger to yourself and others by knowingly driving with a bad steering/ suspension setup.
Click to expand...
Yeah sheā€™s not going anywhere till that starter is fixed, Iā€™ve read the nightmare stories haha.
Safe to say this is not ā€œan otherwise good engineā€ though, the leaks and blow by are unreal šŸ˜‚
Boy oh boy I am running out of good vehicles to drive šŸ¤£
The bearing is probably toasted anyway, but thatā€™s the only thing loose that I can see, ball joints should be fine as my brother did them not too long ago. Though it has been a while since Iā€™ve done the ā€œsomebody turns the wheel while you look at steering componentsā€ check so I guess Iā€™ll add that onto the list.
Sheesh, what a disaster this truck is lol.
 
Ok, local dealership wants over 12 bucks EACH for the two starter bolts, but they actually have a few in stock, which was surprising. Have to source washers separately, unless I can reuse the old washers?
They also want $30 for the bracket, not too keen on those prices but I might have to go for that to get her back on the road quick. If I had dimensions for the bracket I could whip one up in no time, all kinds of clean scrap steel at work.

Next question is, should I pull the starter off and check the threads in the block, or just swap the bolts, torque her down and cross my fingers?

Wish I had more room in the shop... this will be a cold driveway fix.
 
J_dude said:
Ok, local dealership wants over 12 bucks EACH for the two starter bolts, but they actually have a few in stock, which was surprising. Have to source washers separately, unless I can reuse the old washers?
They also want $30 for the bracket, not too keen on those prices but I might have to go for that to get her back on the road quick. If I had dimensions for the bracket I could whip one up in no time, all kinds of clean scrap steel at work.

Next question is, should I pull the starter off and check the threads in the block, or just swap the bolts, torque her down and cross my fingers?

Wish I had more room in the shop... this will be a cold driveway fix.
Click to expand...
Dude that is a good price, get them.
DO NOT GET AFTERMARKET CRAP. Not saying ARP is crap, they might be the only thing worth having that is aftermarket, but as much as I trust ARP- I still wonā€™t get them for the starter. Too many problems over the years with fake ones creating problems.
F8B6ACDA-55A6-47D5-9C55-556C01F346AF.png
 
Will L. said:
Dude that is a good price, get them.
DO NOT GET AFTERMARKET CRAP. Not saying ARP is crap, they might be the only thing worth having that is aftermarket, but as much as I trust ARP- I still wonā€™t get them for the starter. Too many problems over the years with fake ones creating problems.
View attachment 78226
Click to expand...
Alrighty then, Iā€™ll grab the bolts and get them to order the bracket tomorrow. Any thoughts on the washers?
 
J_dude said:
axle nut is a bit loose, lots of slop in the hub assembly (problem #2), can I just tighten the nut up for now?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't drive this till you replace the bad hub bearing! Think about complete bearing failure. Well, you are already at bearing failure... Further use and failed bearing comes apart aka tire comes off vehicle at speed. Aside of damage half shaft does to underside flopping around ... loss of vehicle control kills people and maybe you too. Death is the easy way out as it could just cripple, in serious pain, for the rest of say short natural life.

Failed bearing lockup is still loss of control.

They have revised the torque values several times for this nut. Make sure to replace the seal in the spindle when you do a new hub bearing.

Check these frequently as mine went through quite a few hub bearings.

Depending on how much bad bearing runout you have rotor/brake pad/caliper damage or odd wear may be a further problem. Inspect the rotors and pads.

My project truck ... I bought a scrap 6.5 block just for the heads. It was scrap because the starter mount was broken off for one bolt. Scrap price and other parts sold off it paid for it and the fuel to drag it home.

Wasted JB Weld :

1992 6.5TD Rescue

Depending on my mud in radiator find I just made and how expensive the repair will be it's getting even closer to time to used my spare 6.2 engine or find one on Craigslist
www.thetruckstop.us
 
Will L. said:
I am in love with nordlocks. Finding them is hard sometimes. Imo I would use the old washers and try ordering some nordlocks to swap later if they donā€™t show up in time.
Click to expand...
Here is the sample piece our rep. gave me about 20 years ago. I show it to people and the first thing they do is tighten the wing nut by hand. The next step is me grabbing a wrench to loosen.
1671213674032.png
I had them on a discharge lip on one of our screens back in 2005, rather than using Huck fasteners. To my knowledge, it's still running without issue.
 
I've got nord locks on my starter bolts. my truck is "living" proof of the block getting broken when the starter bracket wasn't installed. the PO who sold me the truck didn't disclose the tid bit of info where someone had broken the block an then welded up the block plus helicoiled the hole. it's still holding up to this day but I feel it's on borrowed time! hence why I have a 6.2 block in my driveway I'm hoping to get running as a replacement when that time comes!

remove the starter off and check the threads and mounting surface of the block and starter. make sure both are flat and oil free when re-installing. also check the hole in the block whrere the bracket mounts to make sure the threads are good there too. and the tiny stud on the rear of the starter is secure. when I had to replace my starter and found the damaged block. installed everything to later find out the starter sheared off the tiny stud for the bracket. I replaced with a grade 8 bolt and nut!
 
WarWagon said:
I wouldn't drive this till you replace the bad hub bearing! Think about complete bearing failure. Well, you are already at bearing failure... Further use and failed bearing comes apart aka tire comes off vehicle at speed. Aside of damage half shaft does to underside flopping around ... loss of vehicle control kills people and maybe you too. Death is the easy way out as it could just cripple, in serious pain, for the rest of say short natural life.

Failed bearing lockup is still loss of control.

They have revised the torque values several times for this nut. Make sure to replace the seal in the spindle when you do a new hub bearing.

Check these frequently as mine went through quite a few hub bearings.

Depending on how much bad bearing runout you have rotor/brake pad/caliper damage or odd wear may be a further problem. Inspect the rotors and pads.

My project truck ... I bought a scrap 6.5 block just for the heads. It was scrap because the starter mount was broken off for one bolt. Scrap price and other parts sold off it paid for it and the fuel to drag it home.

Wasted JB Weld :

1992 6.5TD Rescue

Depending on my mud in radiator find I just made and how expensive the repair will be it's getting even closer to time to used my spare 6.2 engine or find one on Craigslist
www.thetruckstop.us
Click to expand...
Yeah itā€™s not moving till I get that figured out. Cheap brand bearing (world parts or something) is $200, SKF is $350. As this is just a beater I will probably cheap out on this one, I hate to do it, but I cannot justify putting nearly $400 into this truck when I have other better vehicles to worry about.

And all that still depends on the condition of the starter mount and holes, if those are screwed then I guess this truck will be parked.
 
Well well well, bad just got worse.
Pulled the starter and got a bad feeling when I saw the bolts. See pic below. Sure enough, somebody has already been in here and farmered the whole thing up for me.
One of the mounting holes has been Helicoiled, can see the tang in the hole still. Threads in the other one still look good, canā€™t tell if itā€™s been Helicoiled or not, but either way theyā€™re both way bigger than the bolts I got from GM.
So, what the heck am I going to do with this situation? Did GM give me the wrong bolts?
The only good thing so far is the block is not cracked. Yippee I guess.
43A1DC63-E44C-46AF-82AC-D6E39B32E3D5.jpeg
 
Bummer

I don't know if it would be worth drilling & tapping for slightly larger bolt and how that would play with the starer fitment

Also just had the idea of getting quality grade 8 threaded rod, cutting to length and JB weld the threaded rod into the block, have the starter held in with just bolts on the threaded rod.

Not ideal any way around, hopefully someone who's been where you are before will have sound advice
 
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