2HIJOS2126
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- IDAHO FALLS, ID.
So while checking my trapline on Tuesday out in the middle of no where my starter decided to *blow* up. Yes I said blow up. After stepping out and checking/resetting some traps I hopped back in and proceeded to crank her over, she usually turns right over and off we go, but to my surprise that did not occur this time. When I turned the key all we heard was an awful noise coming from the starter and then we smelled and seen smoke coming from under the hood. I popped the hood and ran out to open it up, just as I was raising the hood I noticed a heat bubble deflating from the power cable that goes from battery to battery. I then crawled under the truck to check out the starter, I did not expect to see what I seen. There was a black round piece of metal laying in the snow right under the starter, upon further inspection I noticed it was the back of the starter. I also noticed that the nose cone had separated from the rest of the starter. I had no inclination of this failure, the truck has always started with ease...
I knew we were definitely screwed since we were a few miles away from a main road. My friend and I quickly came up with a gameplan calling friends and family to get some assistance and then started walking our happy asses out of the desert. I had my wife call around and find a 24v starter, and told her to head my way with some tools. We met up with her on the main road a couple of hours later and not so mush longer a few friends showed up to get us back to my truck. By the time we got back to my truck the sun had set and the temperature had fallen dramatically. So yeah, two hours and a dozen hand warmer packets later that PITA starter was installed and she cranked right over. Drove her home and shes been sitting in my driveway since...
I had to order the starter bracket for the gear reduction unit and I will also replace my power wiring before putting her to work again. Oh and just for the record I have done the Doghead relay mod. Im assuming that the failure was just cause the starter was 30yrs old, unless you folks on this site that have much more knowledge have any idea what else might have caused this. But it makes me feel good to just think that the starter was old, cause if I don't think that then I know for sure some other gremlins will rear their faces and my awesome trapping machine will be sidelined for the rest of the season. Ha Ha. But for real, is there something Im missing??? Could something else have caused this catastrophic event??? Thanks in advance...
I knew we were definitely screwed since we were a few miles away from a main road. My friend and I quickly came up with a gameplan calling friends and family to get some assistance and then started walking our happy asses out of the desert. I had my wife call around and find a 24v starter, and told her to head my way with some tools. We met up with her on the main road a couple of hours later and not so mush longer a few friends showed up to get us back to my truck. By the time we got back to my truck the sun had set and the temperature had fallen dramatically. So yeah, two hours and a dozen hand warmer packets later that PITA starter was installed and she cranked right over. Drove her home and shes been sitting in my driveway since...
I had to order the starter bracket for the gear reduction unit and I will also replace my power wiring before putting her to work again. Oh and just for the record I have done the Doghead relay mod. Im assuming that the failure was just cause the starter was 30yrs old, unless you folks on this site that have much more knowledge have any idea what else might have caused this. But it makes me feel good to just think that the starter was old, cause if I don't think that then I know for sure some other gremlins will rear their faces and my awesome trapping machine will be sidelined for the rest of the season. Ha Ha. But for real, is there something Im missing??? Could something else have caused this catastrophic event??? Thanks in advance...