I'm wit' Coke on that. Sounds like the ole' perverbial bad ground or connection issue. Clean the chassis ground real good. I wouldn't go rippin' n' tearin' till ya got all the connections cleaned up and shiny. Especially the ground... Check your wiring as well. Ya never know, varmits could've gotten in there and had a spagetti dinner and chewed on some wires...

Steve@B&B

If you know how to use a multimeter, place on terminal lead end on the smaller terminal, (trigger, or enable and usually flat) and the other to ground. An infinite resistance indicates an open coil and the solenoid is bad. A resistance reading between 30 and 300 ohms and it is good and someplace else needs evaluated. This needs done with the trigger, or starter enable wire disconnected.

Another thing you can do and I want to stress is make certain that son of a bitch is in neutral first, then with a short length of wire, or screwdriver, short the terminal the battery lead affixes to and the small flat terminal the trigger, or starter enable wire attaches to. This bypasses any safety's involved and if the tractor is not in neutral, it will lurch forward if the starter turns. If the starter still does not operate, you either have a grounding problem from the starting batteries, battery voltage is not being routed to the starter solenoid terminal, or the solenoid is open electrically. If the later, remove all cables and wires from the starter solenoid. With an external 12VDC battery and set of booster cables, connect the positive booster cable end to the threaded stud the tractor battery cable normally attaches to. Attach the negative booster cable end to the starter motor case directly. Jumper, or short the two terminals mentioned earlier to ascertain solenoid condition. If it still does not respond, I would pull the unit from the tractor and send into a rebuild shop for reconditioning. I'm aware your system is a 24VDC system but this is a troubleshooting scenario and 12VDC will work to get a response from the starter. Doesn't have to start, just engage and respond. If you have good batteries in the tractor, you can use them with booster cables interconnected the same way except for 24VDC.

If you still get no response from the starter, you can as a final test jumper with your positive lead to the large threaded stud that enters the starter motor housing and is usually connected to the solenoid by a copper strap. This will bypass the solenoid spinning the motor itself and won't slip the drive into the flywheel ring gear.

Given you mention there is no response from the starter solenoid, I really don't think the starter motor suspect at this writing. No proof but suspect your problem is upstream of the starter motor.

Some of this you've been through already I know. Don't forget, or miss the basics involved.

 

When we tried to start my Son-in-law's HD5G this spring it barely would even wiggle the engine. The starter relay did click but not much more would happen.

The battery was freshly charged but we put the booster charger on it anyway; same results.

Next, cleaned all of the connections, no joy.

Out came my trusty Fluke 88 meter. Found a full 6 Volt drop through the ground circuit.

This was with the probe at the point where the ground cable attaches to the main rear casting, thereby eliminating the cable itself from the test circuit.

Apparently there has been a bit of corrosion through the chassis in the past 74 years. I ran a dedicated ground cable all the way from the battery to the starter, now she fires right up

Can't stress enough the importance of clean grounds and terminations. Nature of the beast in electrical work.

I too always have both heavy supply cables running directly to the starter motor and/or assembly itself; #2 at a minimum up to 2/0 dependent upon application. 

Jhilton69 wrote: ... When I checked the positive cable it shows 26 volts I did a conunity check ...

I am curious what you would find with a voltage drop test while attempting to crank.

Place the Negative lead of your voltmeter on the Negative battery post (not the cable clamp, the actual post). Place the Positive lead of the meter on the terminal of the solenoid (again, not the cable but the actual post). 

Note the reading.

Then attempt to crank the engine for a few seconds.

Note the lowest reading.

Jhilton69 wrote: Hey Les just gave that a try with the multimeter on tje correct post u said ot showed 25.4 when I hit the start button it dropped down to zero. What's that mean? Sounds like a short to me but I aint got a wiring g diagram to chase wires to see what I'm lookin at.

Hmmm... weird

I read back through this entire thread and am a bit unclear as to exactly what has transpired.

21 June ...pulled the solenoid off and cleaned it up

23 June ...cleaned all the grounds and still not a click from her

24 June ...just got back in from checking the solenoid and according to the multimeter she's bad...Have to wait till the new one gets here to see what happens.

28 June ...I also tried by putting my jumper cables on down by the starter using the positive cable and the ground cable hooked to the body and got 26 volts

So, did you actually replace the solenoid?

Did it click when you tried the voltage drop test?

Did the starter attempt to turn?

Jhilton69 wrote: ... when I hit the start button it dropped down to zero...

This could indicate a dead short to ground, in which case the cables will get quite hot very soon. Did you notice this happening?

If you can fill in these blanks we can continue to accurately troubleshoot your system.

Jhilton69 wrote: Sorry forgot no it didn't click or spin just watched the numbers drop to zero on the meter. Ya she got a new senolid. While the senolid was off I did move the plunger back and forth with ease. Just to see if it may have been bound up.

Dropping the voltage down to zero without the solenoid clicking in would seem to indicate either an excessively high resistance somewhere in the circuit, or an exceedingly weak battery. Let’s see if we can narrow it down a bit.

First, do a voltage drop test on each battery, one at a time. Place the voltmeter leads directly on the terminals, you should see nearly 13 Volts. Attempt to crank and note the voltage. If the starter doesn’t spin, a good battery shouldn’t drop any voltage at all. Test both batteries the same way.

Next, do a voltage drop test on the cable that connects the two batteries together. Again, place the leads directly on the battery terminals, it should read Zero Volts. Attempt to crank and note the voltage, it should stay right at Zero or very nearly Zero.

Then, do a voltage drop test across both batteries at the same time, but NOW, place the voltmeter leads on the cable terminals, unless you can access the actual copper wire strands, which is even better. You should see near 26 Volts. Attempt to crank and note the voltage.

Now, do a voltage drop test on the cable going from the battery to the starter. Place the voltmeter lead on the hot terminal of the battery and the other on the big terminal on the solenoid. Attempt to crank and note the voltage. It should be Zero or very nearly so.

Finally, do a voltage drop test through the ground circuit. Place one voltmeter lead on the negative battery terminal and the other lead right on the starter itself. It should read Zero Volts. Attempt to crank and note the voltage, it should stay right at zero or very nearly so. 

I am assuming the system is negative ground.

Jhilton69 wrote: It's a positive ground system

Doesn't matter, just reverse your voltmeter leads to the appropriate polarity. If you are using a digital meter you don't even need to do that as it will simply read negative values. Analog meters object to reverse polarity though when the needle tries to move to the left.

Jhilton69 wrote: Ok rain stopped do I went out to run the drop test u suggested. Battery 1 12.8 volts Battery 212.5 volt. First test single battery test battery 1 start from 12.8 dropped to -10.6. Battery 2 start 12.5 stayed the same. Cable connecting the batteries start 0 stayed 0. Both batteries together start 25.4. Dropped to 1.4. Cable to starter start 25.3. Dropped to .3. Ground Cable start 0 stayed 0. Wonderin why battery 1 Dropped so much when it starts good?

That's what I suspected; you have a bad battery my friend

I recommend having both batteries load tested.

Jhilton69 wrote: Just wondering why it wouldn't at least click one just one battery? I'll change them out tomorrow and see what happens

I have seen batteries do exactly this. If any of the internal connections between cells separates  it can still pass a few electrons for your voltmeter to register voltage, but it is incapable of flowing enough current to even click the solenoid.

Even with two batteries in series it still effectively opens the circuit because the current has to pass through every cell, cable, connector, terminal, etc. A break, or a high resistance at any one point results in failure. This is why I asked you to check each component separately, and it looks like you may have found the culprit.

Yup, it's almost always something basic. I have earned a living with voltmeters, etc. and while they never tell a lie, they don't always tell the whole truth.

Let us know when you get 'er fired up!

Sweet!

Thanks for the feedback, it's always nice to know how things work out.

Check your charging rate.  Could be high and boiling the battery dry...