Awesome, thank you. I'll admit I only gave it a halfhearted attempt last time. I appreciate the guidance. Surprisingly after only 5 or 6 drives of less than an hour each (maybe 200 miles total tops), the spare starter gave me two no cranks when I turned the key, and one morning it sounded like a coffee can full or rocks but it started ok. Since then it's started 2 or 3 times without issue but either that starter had issues to begin with, or a couple weeks without a heat shield did more damage than I would have guessed possible. I ordered the Amazon unit you mentioned above and will keep in the back of the truck in case I get sidelined.

 

For anyone else finding this, the heat shield is really not a difficult affair. I guess my skirt was getting in the way the first time I tried. Following XRAD’s advice, and with a good shove from below, it went on in a couple of minutes. I’ll never know if not having it caused premature failure of my parts truck starter because I don’t know the history of it, but not reinstalling the shield because it looks hard to get back on should not prevent anyone from doing it.

Regarding the Amazon starter, it does crank much faster than the original starter. It also did not look like a reman’d unit. I guess they’re making them new over there in China. We’ll see how it does.

 

Glad you got the shield installed. Agree about the amazon starter. much better so far...see how long it lasts. Finished a strip down and repainting/regreasing of my warn 8000 winch. New tow rope, new G8 bolts and square nuts. replaced the original bottom rock bar. it does lower my entry angle a bit, but i'm not on the rocks so much anyway. I do have a washer tank shield, yet to be installed.....

 

here is my basic heat shield...embossed thick aluminum makes a small air gap shield between cat and shaft. ends of shield with multiple 2" long parallel cuts and then molded around the cat (hard to see). Amazon for heat shield. It is really only the slip joint that sees the most heat...and that is the least likely to fail....

and I still have to design a removeable cross beam....

 

So about a year or so ago, I bought one of those cheaper chinese steel rear bumpers. I saw the reviews about the end caps being too angled. Took my chances....but ended up with one of the defected ones! Soooo....had to trim the ends and reweld them. A good 4 hours of work! Had to use a hydraulic frame straightener to spread the endcaps at least 3/4", and make multiple cuts/re-welds! The end caps were too long, too narrow, and way too high. Also, noticed that the OEM hitch mount bolts, the m14-2 x 80mm, were way too short. Only a few threads were seated, not even to the threadlock. Wonder how many of these 'accidents waiting to happen' are out there??? will mount bumper tomorrow...I also needed additional 1/2 inch steel spacers and m14-2x110mm for the center hitch bolts as the bumper middle flange was not in correct position....... BTW: rustoloeum semi gloss black is a pretty close match...

 

I am planning to replace the recovery attachment points, I don't trust those welds. Never load a weld in tension is a good rule of engineering.

 

I have one of those malformed bumpers too. I didn't notice any issues with the bolt lengths or the flange.
I don't have the fab skills necessary to adjust the wraparound pieces so instead I angled the lower edges of the plastic corner trims using a bandsaw. (I have a spare set in case anything went horribly wrong.)
I did put some extra welds on the insides of the corners where there were gaps, and then sprayed with the same paint you did.

 

I figure that those recovery points are no weaker than the swivel shackles I have in the front. The swivels pass through one slightly thicker piece of steel. At least the rear bumper tow point is welded to both the outside and inside panels... I think the real weak points are the actual bumper attachments to the frame, both front and rear. They are for impact, not tensioning......The trailer hitch is my best rear tow point.

A thought, if you have to use the steel bumper tow points, use both with an equalizer...

 

mounted.....

 

That turned out really good. On one of mine, I’m going to need to do a rear bumper I suspect. The added complexity to mine will be both my D2s have parking sensors, and I’d like to have them functional. I’m hoping I can get away with just drilling holes for the sensors and go from there. But you have shown that you get what you pay for in some instances. Glad you made it work.