He's baaaack!! I did some testing with the multimeter, many thanks to
all who helped me learn to use this tool. I found that there was indeed
juice flowing to the solenoid but not to the starter, i.e. - when
helpful neighbor turns the key I get 12 volts on the switch side and 0
volts on the starter side. So, I bought a new starter and got under the
van to replace the old one, I removed the wiring and tied it up so I
would remember how to put it back, I removed the lower nut no problem,
the upper nut however is not a nut. There is a 'thing' where a nut
should be that is horseshoe shaped and I can find no way to remove this
thing. 

Pics of the thing are here:
http://www.ncdragonfly.com/vw/starter3.jpg
http://www.ncdragonfly.com/vw/starter4.jpg

The quality is not great as I was holding a mirror and the camera and
shooting into the mirror.

Does anyone know how to remove the 'thing'? Does this require a special
tool?

Thanks much,

David Higginbotham
82 Westfalia
Silk Hope, NC