electrical problem with my ol 3414 industrial

[sparky1]

Well heres my problem.. Im pretty mechanically inclined, but not so much with motors, so i will try to explain this the best i can. I have an issue with my 1960 something IH. It starts up and runs good. The problem is when I was running it the other day it started to smoke pretty good under the dash. So I shut it down and was ready to bail if it started on fire. Thankfully it didnt.
well anyways I inspected a bit and there is a wire (10 awg) that is running up towards the switch. A red wire, it then runs through a connector plugd (under the dash) with a bunch of wires, then it goes to a silver thing (mounted just off the motor) . I dont know what this is called for sure, but there is a large cable on this silver thing that runs directly to the battery. then there is another smaller wire that goes off to something else. I think there is another larger cable on it too. well anways the smaller # 10 red is melted. the connector is melted pretty bad too. By the looks of it, the wire is melted the whole way. I was thinking it was a short that caused this, but im not sure?? It will still start up and run fine, but Im afraid it will do this again and possibly start a fire. I have no problem replacein the wire, but will this fix it? Im thinking their is something else going on, not sure what though.

[EssexBoy]

If you are not sure what things are called, its best to post up a photo, that way it helps us to help you. Going by what you have said, it seems to be the starter solenoid (silver thing) I do believe and the main wire from (to) it, just renew it and see, it should be ok after that. make sure its the same size.

[sparky1]

After your reply and a bit more research I believe your correct with it being the starter solenoid. What would cause the wire to melt like this?? Ive only seen anything like this once before on one of my quads (after i bypassed a fuse). So a dead short, would the solenoid possibly cause this again?

[EssexBoy]

Pulling too many Amps...! bad connector plug has you have said, lose wire, bad wiring, if any wiring did have a fuse in line, make sure you put one back in. re solenoid just make sure that all wire are very tight.