Well my starter went out. I purchased one from autozone. I got to say, it was a little trying getting it off and the new one on. The bolts are tough to get to, and then it barely clears the differential coming out. After that getting it by the steering shaft, and by the power steering hoses was tight!! Oh well, just a little ranting, but its done.

 

Yeah the bolts sit pretty darn tight. Mostly because there high amount of force that goes on with the starters motor that cranks the engine. My dakota is a 3.9l 2WD so it clears out pretty easily for me.

 

i had 1977 dodge D100. 318 auto. bought new. put headers on. to get the starter out i had to unbolt the header and jam up at an angle, to get the starter out. NO MORE HEADERS FOR ME.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dakotr95

Yeah the bolts sit pretty darn tight. Mostly because there high amount of force that goes on with the starters motor that cranks the engine. My dakota is a 3.9l 2WD so it clears out pretty easily for me.

Yes, it wasn't the tightness of the bolts so much as it was the angle. I think the steering system used on the 4x4 as well as the diff. made it so hard to get out.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by moe7404

i had 1977 dodge D100. 318 auto. bought new. put headers on. to get the starter out i had to unbolt the header and jam up at an angle, to get the starter out. NO MORE HEADERS FOR ME.

I had read a article recommending the mini starter with headers for that reason.

 

2" body lift is great for this reason , i had to install another new one after the shop one failed(cracked housing) in 3 months LOL but with body lift and torsion mod i removed drivers front tire and had all the room in the world took me longer to jack up and remove the friggen 80lb mud bogger then to unbolt starter, just to find out one bolt was stripped and reason the housing broke(loose) so had to find longer bolt with a nut , that proved interesting .. but still swapped in under an hour

 

i think in 1978 mini starters didnt wasnt around yet. at one time we had a very good starter rebuilder here in Wichita. my dad worked there for awhile. so we got parts cheap. and we got good at the old style starters. living on dirt street was hard on all parts of the car. think i still have some of the small parts left.