Ready, Steady……Start
After 10 days in Lillooet we are finally leaving. Our starter arrived courtesy of Fedex shipping from the UK – shipped on Friday afternoon and arrived Tuesday afternoon. That’s pretty good if you ask me. It only cost £50 to ship using Interparcel which I think is amazing for a 17kg package on a priority service.
Anyway the new starter was completely different looking from the old one (shorter and heavier) which gave us some nervous moments but it fit perfectly. When we tried the ignition for the first time we were so nervous that we could hardly breathe. The engine started better than it has ever started before though. Hurrah !
It had taken us quite a while to track down a replacement starter and that is due to the fact that there had been a redesign. The original starter for this truck was a reduction starter (spins really fast but is geared to interface with the flywheel) and we have since found out has a reputation for sticking (exactly what happened to ours). The new one has a bigger motor and is non-reduction so doesn’t have to work so hard. Much better.
We’ve been helped out by so many people while we were stuck. A big thank you to my Dad for doing so much phoning around to find a replacement for us and acting as our procurement director in the UK. Also Nick Bailey at Marshall Web (A UK DAF dealer) went out of his way to help us. In Lillooet, Greg and Sunni – master mechanics, got us back on the road and hosted us at their garage with enormous good cheer. Bobby De Roy also helped us with his towing feats and also by being an entertaining and generous neighbour. There are also a number of other people in Lillooet who were kind and generous so thank you to them as well – including Susan at the Visitor Centre.
FromAtoB 
I hope you bought a spare one…. taking advantage of a 12 month warranty might be a little difficult where you’re going.
Hi Colin,
We deliberated about getting a spare. But they are pretty expensive and now we know how to get one easily and have a dealer who can fedex to us. So we are taking a gamble on the starter lasting us until the end of our trip – it is the new improved design after all. Hopefully hindsight will not prove us silly.
Mark
With the length of the US in your sights, it should provide a fair amount of time to work further bugs out, if there is such a thing as “working the bugs out” of a vehicle.
When heading below the US boarder, you might want to see if there are any overlander tours or adventure guides heading in the same direction so you can keep in communication with them just case you get stuck in a town whose main transport is burro.
I continue to enjoy reading your blog and wonder if you are taking any video along the way.