It has been since March that Donkey has been lamed up. Battery died, starter fried and steering was downright frightening. New battery purchase right away. Sent starter to local shop in March - still haven't seen it but a kind gentleman in Arizona had the right one. (never got his name but THANKS!).
Still no starting though. Found that the Glow Plug relay was very intermittent and replaced that. Still no good. Checked back here and found that some folks had that issue and found that it was the harness - got one from OZ et voila - started right up. Made my wife happy,
Then to steering. It had a GM power steering system installed down in Costa Rica by original owners and that was mounted in front of cross member and had 3 segments to the steering shaft The slop was at least 60 degrees, and the shafts smacked into the battery box supports. Plus, the pressure hose fittings leaked like a sieve. New hoses rerouted for gentler bend radii, rebuilt the box and had the mount refabricated as well as a bracket with Heim joint to better guide the new 2 element steering shaft to the PS box. Whew.
Drove her back from the shop (113 miles) and was able to keep her between the lines without sweating and swearing and got 18.8 mpg with average speed of 55mph. Got her to run 60+ a bit (according to my wife who was pacing me) And wonder of wonders; actually able to pass folks.
Now to take care of the slowly weeping right steering knuckle and the intermittent fuel gauge.
Thanks to all here and in the diesel tech forums for advice.
Still no starting though. Found that the Glow Plug relay was very intermittent and replaced that. Still no good. Checked back here and found that some folks had that issue and found that it was the harness - got one from OZ et voila - started right up. Made my wife happy,
Then to steering. It had a GM power steering system installed down in Costa Rica by original owners and that was mounted in front of cross member and had 3 segments to the steering shaft The slop was at least 60 degrees, and the shafts smacked into the battery box supports. Plus, the pressure hose fittings leaked like a sieve. New hoses rerouted for gentler bend radii, rebuilt the box and had the mount refabricated as well as a bracket with Heim joint to better guide the new 2 element steering shaft to the PS box. Whew.
Drove her back from the shop (113 miles) and was able to keep her between the lines without sweating and swearing and got 18.8 mpg with average speed of 55mph. Got her to run 60+ a bit (according to my wife who was pacing me) And wonder of wonders; actually able to pass folks.
Now to take care of the slowly weeping right steering knuckle and the intermittent fuel gauge.
Thanks to all here and in the diesel tech forums for advice.
