International 404 1965 starter won't turn

chaddavid · Jun 4, 2019

I forgot to open the fuel shut off valve and ran out of gas in the fuel line. When I opened the fuel line, the tractor wouldn't crank at all. The starter wouldn't make any noise at all. Not even a click. I was going to check for electrical problems today, but I wouldn't know where to begin.

I tried jumping the battery with my truck and the starter will turn slightly, and it clicks like a truck would with an almost dead battery. I took the battery to the auto parts place and they said that the battery was 84% charged and that it was still good.

Has anyone ever had this happen, and or know what to do?

Thanks,
Chad

Scook222 · Jun 4, 2019

Have you tried jumping the solenoid with a screwdriver to see if it will crank? It it won’t, you need to check and clean the terminals on the battery, ground , and solenoid. Then try jumping it again. If the solenoid is the suck in style, I would push it alittle farther in by hand to see if it’s engaging. If you have a multi meter you can see how many bolts are at the starter and other places. If it will crank by using a screwdriver to jump the solenoid, I would check the pins on the back of the key switch. Try all of this and it will help narrow it down. Let us know what it does.

chaddavid · Jun 4, 2019

No I haven't tried any of that yet. Thanks for the tips. I'll try that tomorrow to see. I'll let y'all know.

goeduck · Jun 4, 2019

Yes, make sure all your connections on the cables are good first.

chaddavid · Jun 4, 2019

Thanks. Good idea. Will do.

chaddavid · Jun 4, 2019

Thanks for the help. I tried to jump the solenoid and nothing happened so I figured that there was no power going to it. I changed the positive battery cable and the tractor started with no problem and seems like it runs better. The cable that was on the tractor when I bought it was a 1 gauge. The only one's available at the auto parts store were 4g. It seems ok, what do you think? It's a 12v battery.

Scook222 · Jun 4, 2019

4 gauge should be fine. Most of the tractors back then were over built on battery cables. If you were running it 10 or 15 foot, you might need to go bigger, but it should be plenty since most vehicles use that size.