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Dreaded Dodge Starter Click ... and nothing happens

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FASS service topic?

L&M Headlight Harnes, Burnt contact

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Well I went ahead and replaced the starter contacts today. They are the LarryB kit ( LarryB's StarterContacts.com ) and the pics do not do justice. they are beefy but we will get to that in a sec. The starter itself roumoured to be a mondo heavy thing really isn't at all. I will touch on the removal a bit. On 4X4's just undo the 4 bolts for the universal joint and strap the shaft up and out of the way so the starter can slide on out.



It's best to start by cleaning the area where you will be working as you can come out of this looking like a disaster if you don't. Start by loosening the three bolts that hold this puppy in. They are 12Pt 10MM hardened bolts and it's best to get the top bolt out first. If not then you will be fighting the weight of the starter on the bolt if you do it last. Go ahead and loosen that bad boy all the way out and have a thread or two coulght for safe keeping.



Now attack the two bottom bolts leaving the bottom right threaded in a bit. Remove the top all the way and take the last bottom bolt out while keeping another contorted hand on the starter so it will not fall. Ease her on down and out.



Now that it is on the bench start off by removing the wire from the starter contact on the right side.



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Now undo the THREE screws that hold the once Gold anodized cover in place. SLOWLY lift the cover off and out of the way (There is a spring and small ball at the end that can fly out if given the chance) Now you can see the carnage that smells like a used welding rod.



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Yeah that top one was one of my origional compared to a Larry. Below is my whole old set.



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Anyhow now you simply unbolt the contacts (Being careful of the one with the wire soldered to a plate that gets sandwiched between the contact bolt and contact itself which is on the right !!!!)



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Then swap the spring over to the new plunger and put her back together. I also scrubbed up the two external contacts that the small ring terminal and larger one get fastened to when it goes back in the truck. Dabbed a lil dielectric grease on those for safe keeping. I am not sure but the new plunger looked beefier ... . but then again it was worn.



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Connect the wires and driveshaft and give the key some hell. :woohoo:
 
I did mine a month ago. Didn't even bother disconnecting the front d/s. I have to yank it back out again, I want to replace the brushes as well. I should be able to get it out in under 5 minutes.

One additional suggestion: Gear Wrenches (ratcheting box end wrenches) *ARE* your friend for this job.
 
How many miles on those contacts?
Mine were burned at least that far. I can confirm at least 130,000 miles since I've had it, and I suspect that they were the original contacts after 224,000 miles.

Like TMTT said, it's not miles. It's how long the starter has been engaged. I have no way to be able to gauge that on mine.

And in case I (or anybody else) hasn't been positively clear, LarryB's contacts are well worth the investment.
 
Mileage is just shy of 100K but the starter contacts don't go by mileage. I would say they have 7 hours of total cranking.



After thinking about it including all the injector swaps, lift pumps, Fass, Fuel filter installs AND the average 2. 5 seconds it takes to normally start the Cummins I will bring that estimate down to 3 Hours of starter engagement over 8 years time.
 
thanks

Just got my first click today. Thanks for the post, I knew exactly what it was from reading your post . Tim, you rock
 
Mine didnt click...it just kept on cranking!!

A couple years back I had left work to grab some lunch and cranked the truck over... . and it wouldn't quit cranking! (at that time I had just over 100,000 miles on it) I called up my mechanic and he let me know that it was these contacts.



I just went and bought me some from a local alternator/starter repair shop for about $12 and maybe an hour of time spent. I was pretty happy with that because before I called my mechanic I had checked around on the cost of a new starter and was freaking out as we did not have any extra cash like that to spend.

I think I may just get these ones though because ever since I wonder when the next time will be.
 
I did mine a few years back, I think at around 100K. Intersting to note, my OEM contacts were the HD ones like Larry sells, obviously by fall of 2000, Dodge had already started using the HD ones. I point this out only because I was replacing my OEM ones as PM, they didn't really need it.



SHG
 
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