I was using a 1/4 inch drive tonight on this very operation.. until I dropped the ratched down the nice round hole in the fender is built for catching tools. The passinger side spring had a 10mm deep socket in it when I bought the car.. and the mechanical fingers are 50 miles away..

The glow plugs should not be too hard once i get the 1/4 drive back..

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46 WDX Power Wagon

84 300TDT daily driver

Here are some tips and tricks for y'all with fat hands. Those who piped up that this was a piece of cake can just sit back and snicker.

- 12mm gear wrench (preferably with an angle adjustment -- email if you want a picture). For fat hands, this is mandatory!

- Remove the injector lines. I just loosened them on the block but next time I'll remove 'em as an entire set.

- An extendable magnet wand (or something like it). I was able to retrieve dropped nuts with it. But more importantly, I was able to use it to position the 8mm nut going back on with much more ease than getting my two fat hands into some of the places. I still think the #5 cylinder is a *****.

- Beer!

The 300SD is now starting up beautifully in the cold. In addition, the warm glow of the glow plug light warms my heart.

As a point of information, all of this fun was brought on by suddenly very hard starting in the cold. I attributed it to the cold weather (which was a factor) as well as having 2 glow plugs out. However, the hard, almost impossible cold starting just turned to hard starting after I put on the plug that is positioned between the #1 and #2 cylinders. The vacuum hose (I think) had fallen off somehow and made starting a PITA. Once I repositioned back on, it solved quite a bit of my problem. I am still glad I changed the glow plugs but I say this as an information point in case anyone else is having the same problem.

Thanks for everyone's input and heckling throughout this process.

.....Dan

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99 e300
98 e300
90 Suburban 1500 4x4
92 ZR-1
04 Tahoe 4x4
05 Scag 52" zero turn
97 e300 - totaled on black ice
84 300SD - gave to a friend
85 300TDT Euro - SOLD to my little bro

This is my favorite part!

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83 SD

84 CD