Re: JPOR: Starter woes

[Obi-Wan <bvh@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I just got a rebuilt started from a local auto electric shop (reputable
> place). Cost was about $50. It will last a couple a years, then I'll install
> the spare & buy another rebuilt to carry as a spare.......

OK, it seems that's what I'll need.  I removed both the SJ's questionable
starter and the good Optima from my YJ and set them both on the driveway.
I connected them with jumper cables.  When I completed the circuit,
the drive gear on the starter started turning, but slowly enough that
I could count the teeth going by.  No massive torque.  No whirring.
Barely enough torque to turn a hamster wheel, let alone a V8.  Sounds 
like a dead starter, despite the fact that it tested good and spun
like mad at the parts store two days prior.  O'Reilly wants $35+core
for a rebuilt starter, which they have in stock.  I would have gotten
one tonight, except...

I finally got ahold of the owner of the '87 GW with the "bad rear drive."
Basically, the rear wheels are currently freewheeling.  Only the e-brake
keeps it sitting in front of her house.  No mechanic has looked at it,
and her mechanically-inclined father lives 160 miles away, so all she
knows is what he suggested over the phone -- probably a bad t-case or
rear axle gears.  It had always made noise during the 4 years she
owned it.  A month ago, it suddenly made a big pop, bounced, and coasted
to a stop.  Shifting into reverse & then drive engaged things enough to
drive it home, but the next day it wouldn't go.  This sounds more like
a tranny problem to me, but we'll see when I crawl under it and look
around.  We could be a three-Jeep family next week!

Anyway, if I bring that GW home this weekend, I'll steal the starter
off it rather than buying another one.  The FSJ list tells me the
starters are interchangeable, despite the fact that one's from a
'77 401/TH400 and the other's from an '87 360/TF727.  I could get
used to this "parts vehicle" thing really quick...

				-- Obi-Wan
				   '95.5 YJ, '77 Wag

-- 
Ben "Obi-Wan" Hollingsworth                               obiwan@jedi.com
"You know, he kind of looks like Yoda"  -- Jim Davis, about my baby Micah
            Anybody want to buy a Jeep XJ Dana 44 rear axle?