I fell victim to the dreaded broken starter bolts yesterday morning. Went to start the Tahoe, she cranked for just a second, and then "POP, TING, Zing....."... the starter broke loose and was no longer touching the ring gear. Initial inspection revealed a broken bolt laying on the ground... that was the "TING" I heard when the bolts broke and one hit the ground. I didn't realize until getting to work on it last night that both bolts broke off.

The culprit was a broken front bracket. Apparently it has been broken for a while, since the break has rust on it. I failed to inspect it routinely, so it broke and and the starter has been twisting on just the two main bolts for some time until they finally snapped yesterday.

Both bolts broke off up inside the block, but thankfully there was no residual damage to the block or the ring gear. I was really worried that perhaps the outer ear could have been broken off. Dodged a bullet there.

I ordered up a set of ARP starter bolts and a new starter bracket. I'll be sure to check the bracket more regularly from now.

I also ordered a set of LH drill bits, and hopefully the broken pieces come out easy enough.

Casey