O.T. JDEMARIS noisy starter on M1008

Picked up my new "Jewel" today..Starter is pretty noisy..Sounds like a small block Chevy starter that needs shimming....Is there any shimming that can be done or I should I just pull the starter for repairs ?? Runs out nicely , good hiway speeds[65 MPH easily]..373 gears helped there..... Darned kids and their body lifts....Ripped my britches getting into it..Luckily nobody saw that..I'm a little concerned about the driveshaft angle..[ 3"block between rear spring and axle..] I might put a shorter block in there to relieve the angle a little..Other than that,It rides like a truck....

You've got me confused now. Didn't you say earlier it was a M1009, not a M1008? M1009 is a K5 Blazer with 3.08 10-bolt axles. M1009 is a 1 1/4 ton cargo truck with a 14 bolt GM rear and a Dana 60 in front.

How do you know it has 3.73 gears? As far as I know, there isn't any such thing OEM with the ten-bolt rear. 3.08 is standard and 3.42 an option. 3.73 only came with the 3/4 ton, 8 lug wheel mount, 14 bolt and larger rear (not used in K5 Blazers). If it IS 3.73, it's really spinning at 65 MPH and fuel mileage drops a lot at that speed. 6.2 gets bet mileage at 2000 - 2200 RPM.
With 3.73s, it's spinning around 2600 RPM at 65 MPH (with no overdrive). With 3.08s, it spins around 2400 RPM.

No shimming involved. Might be the starter is loose, or got loose previously and is now damaged? 6.2s tend to suffer that, along with broken bolts holding the starter in. I've had to fix many that were only being held by one bolt. You've got to have the extra support at the rear of the starter (towards the front of the engine). If you've still got the military 24 volt starter, it's easy to change it to 12 volt, and you can buy one brand new (not rebuilt) for $100.
In regard to the driveshaft angle, yes it's a big problem, even when no riser blocks are installed in the rear springs.
In the past, on long trips I used to carry a spare driveshaft with me. Thing is, since these driveshafts are held by little tie-straps, and NOT u-bolts, if there's any wear, they don't tighten up properly to the pinion flange. And, when a u-joint burns out, the driveshaft can fly off, and crack the aluminum transfer-case in half.
If it was my Blazer ( already have over 20 diesel Blazers), I'd do this. First, put a new gear-reduction starter on it. That's what GM used on all of them anyway, 1988 and on. The newer GR starters retrofit onto all the 6.2s.
With the driveshaft - I'd get the rear as low as possible. It already is pretty high with just the four or five leafs including thick thick overload leaf at the bottom. Also, lower your transfer case assuming you're not going to be doing a lot of severe off-road rock climbing? The brack that mounts sideways across the frame that holds the transfercase is held on by four 7/16"bolts with long bushings at the end of those bolts. It almost seems GM put those bushing there for people who want to fix the problem? The bracket OEM is mounted directly against the frame. Just put a jack under the transfercase, take out those bolts, drop the assembly about 3/4", and then . . . put those bushing inbetween the frame and the bracket. All the parts are there already, and this drops the case down about 3/4" . It makes a big difference and makes the u-joint angle less severe. I just did one yesterday. Before I dropped it - I checked the two angles against level - for the pinion the transfercase output. As you know, with any two joint driveshafts - the pinion angle is always supposed to match the trans or transfercase angle. But, with many Blazers used over time, the pinion angle works it way up. I worked on an 86 yesterday and the rear pinion was 18 degrees and the transfercase was 12 degrees. This thing was burning up rear u-joints every 10,000 miles. I dropped the transfercase as decribed, and the tranfercase angle stayed pretty much the same at 11-12 degrees, but the other angle at the pinion when from 18 down to 12 degrees. Big change. Much less severe now and also, now the two match. If you do this and they don't match, you can buy custom wedge-shims to put between the leaf springs and rear-axle, but they are rarely needed. Plow trucks that do a lot of hard pushing often get a set in the rear springs that pushes that angle up.
Here's what the two starters look like, side by side. With either, you must have the extra support bracket that holds the rear of the starter to the engine block.
<a href="http://s104.photobucket.com/albums/m162/jdemaris/?action=view&current=100_3654.jpg" target="_blank"> </a>

I went to look at a M1009 originally...It was too rough bodywise and had over 90,000 miles on it..I asked if my former co-worker had anything else coming in..He didn't have anything any cleaner being trucked in...Then he thought about his nephew's truck that he had in storage...It turned out to be a super clean M1008 with 2,449 miles on it....They changed the gear sets to 3.73 , installed new batteries , new tires and wheels , brakes , shocks , oils and filters , bought a tailgate for it, radiator and heater core, for 5 grand....Starts easily , other than the noise , runs super , TH400 shifts great, all the lights work , Runs 65 mph effortlessly...But it does ride like a truck..Was a member of the Illinois National Guard Reserves..