The more I hear about the symptoms, the more I lean towards the possibilities of what Andrew mentioned with the rack dampner screw.

From what I've seen, if the dampner is too loose, then you get the shaking ....... as in the rack is too close to cut-off. If the dampner is too tight, then you get hard starting, and poor idle till warm, as it is getting too much fuel for a cold engine situation.

However, weak/failed glow plugs would override this as even with a well adjusted rack dampner, you will have a hard, if not near impossible, time starting in cold weather.

I would start with the glow plugs and ensure everything seems to be working there and then try backing off the rack dampner screw about a turn and see if that helps.

__________________
Sam

84 300SD 350K+ miles ( Blue Belle )