Ok, I went out and tried to get it to turn over, but no luck. It's just really feeling like it's dragging and I bought a brand new battery that's reading 12.8v out of the truck. I came in and found Jerry's suggestion, and by then I already had the battery out of the truck and on the charger, just to be sure. Ran back out and hit the starter pedal, and nothing! (Then I remembered the battery was inside on the charger-oops). Took it back out there and put it in and tried cranking it with out the key on, and it did great. Sounded like any other day before all this mess started. Switched on the key, and it sounded good, too! After about 2-3 seconds of cranking it fired up, and I pulled the throttle to hold it until I got out and replaced the filter and breather cap and shut the hood, then jumped in and took off. Runs ok, but it's got this ambling sound like rocks rolling around in a cardboard box, the best I can describe, when it's slowing down or at a stop sign. Drove it out to the highway and about 5 miles on that, then came back to the house and backed it into our so-called drive way so I could be on a level spot (we live on a hill, so most of my mechanicing is done on the curb, on a slope) so I could hopefully get to work on adjusting the valves and timing before it cooled off. When I switched it off, I couldn't resist turning it back on again, just to make sure all was well. But when I turned the key and stepped on the starter, it was chugging and straining again, almost sounding like a dead battery. I was keeping an eye on the ammeter while I was driving, and although it showed it was on the draw side instead of the charge side, I realized I had the heater blower on, and that leveled out as soon as I turned it off. So, now I'm wondering if it's the timing (my guess, since it just had the gears changed and never did this before), or the starter dying on me, or maybe like somebody mentioned, my generator rebuild from a few years ago has some dirty brushes to clean up. Or could it be the regulator going that's causing all the problems. I don't know. But it always seems like my two trucks have this thing where when one goes, the other goes on the blink. Oh, well. It's 3:25, which means I have about an hour till dark, so any tweaking with the valves and timing will now be tomorrows work. I'll start with the valves and timing, then the starter, then the voltage regulator. If anyone has anything to throw in here, I'm all ears. I'll be glad when this is done and I've once again forgotten how much I appreciate a truck that starts every time and gets me from point a to point b without even having to think about it. But, on the other hand, that's what I love about this truck. It's fixable, and fixing it doesn't involve computer chips, unnecessary fuses and breakers, and repairs I can actually figure out (with time). Thanks again for the help and ideas, guys!
