Well, that was an interesting repair. I used an 18" and two 10" extensions, and was still short, so I used a short one I had in my socket set. All total I figured it was about 3.5', in order to clear that cross member that the torsion bars end in, so that the breaker bar could swing freely. So I have this three and a half foot wobbly extension on a 14mm socket, connected to a breaker bar, and when it finally breaks free, my hand slams into the cross member, the socket comes flying off the end of the extension and gets lost in the engine compartment somewhere, etc. I decide to take a short break and reassess the situation, and take care of my hand, which is now dripping blood thru my shredded latex gloves, lol!

I decide to make a parts store run and get another 14mm socket, and get a 14mm ratcheting wrench (mine was missing). Since the top bolt was now broken loose, I was able to use the new socket, an extension, and a universal joint and loosen it by hand. When it came time to break loose the bottom starter bolt, seems that there was a slight clearance problem there as well in using a socket, extension, and breaker bar. Luckily, I had that new ratcheting wrench, and it made quick work of that bolt.

So once I figured out how to drop the starter out and clear the torsion bar and frame rail, I took it to the auto parts store and bought the new one. Reversed the process, got it up into place, and started with the lower bolt, to hold it on place. Got it nice and snug, using the ratcheting wrench, then used the socket/universal joint/extension setup and tightened the upper bolt by hand. Then I got up top in the engine compartment and finished tightening that one with the ratcheting wrench, then tightened the bottom one with the ratcheting wrench. Anyone see a pattern here?!

Reconnected the wire to the spade connector, and the cable to the post, reconnected the battery, and she fired right up. So I'm all good to go now. For me, in my particular repair, I would HIGHLY recommend using a 14mm ratcheting wrench and loosening/tightening that top starter bolt from on top, and NOT using three and half feet of extensions.

The new starter cost me about $70, and I'm sure being able to do this myself saved me at least a couple of hours of shop labor. Plus, I gained some knowledge and experience on how to do this myself. Hopefully, this starter will last another 170K miles, and I won't have to deal with it for a good, long time! But if I do, the first tool on my list is going to be that 14mm ratcheting wrench, NOT three and a half feet of wobbly extensions!