The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay 1950 3100 starter will not spin

I have power to my starter but it will not spin when I push the foot starter button. I have cleaned the ground strap ends and it's mounting points on the frame and bell housing.I have also replaced the starter with a new one.
I have also noticed that when I push down on the foot starter with the key on I loose power to all of the gauges. Turn the key off wait a few seconds turn the key back on and I have power again at the gauges.
When I push in on the button directly on the starter I still have nothing.
Thanks

You Have bad battery connections at the battery and/or at the motor or a bad battery, Do the wiggle test, if can move by hand the cables (POS and/or NEG ) at the battery or the starter you have found the problem. Hook up a voltmeter to the battery posts and try the starter, if the voltage drops to or close to 0 you have a bad battery or a battery that needs a very good charge. The starter system on these old trucks are wired straight to the battery.

Another source of trouble on these old trucks were the ground straps that went from the battery to the frame, and then another from the frame to the engine/transmission. The connections would frequently corrode and cause problems.

Here's an odd answer, but it's what happened to me. Same symptoms on my truck. Good battery, checked all connections, put on new ground strap and battery cables, etc. Here's what it was: the linkage on my foot starter pedal is supported by brackets that bolt the back of my engine. the brackets had become worn and wouldn't let the linkage go ALL the way to push the starter solenoid button. I had two other guys look at it and mess with it ($$$) and they couldn't figure it out. but they DID rebuild my starter and even though it didn't NEED rebuilt, I now have a rebuilt starter! Just a thought!

Just went through this with 58 Apache. despite running ground strap and cable bolts in and out, after lots of troubleshooting, has to physically remove the bolts/cables and grind the factory paint down to bare metal to ensure ground. Also, my rebuild starter stomp wouldn't work, fortunately, there was a hole near there on the push lever and I wound some wire through it, increasing the leverage and the stomp would then work. Good luck with yours, Lefty.