Put in a new Battery, got nothin' - I am not dumb, but maybe I'm not bright?

[BigBlue1]

Absolutely! This will work. And if you have a second person to help turn the key, will work just fine. It has been my experience that the leads on multimeters are not long enough to reach from the battery to the cab. Or from under the hood to the cab of pickups, cars, boats, etc. I've made longer leads to get me by in a pinch, and is possible, but is the readings accurate at that point?

I'd say that extending multimeter leads from their 2-3' standard length to the distance needed on a vehicle from battery to operator station/seat (10'?) would be zero impact on accuracy to the 10th of a volt as used for this type of test. Assuming the gauge of the wire is consistent with OEM. It would take a significantly longer lead to introduce noticeable inaccuracy in that situation.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I'd say that extending multimeter leads from their 2-3' standard length to the distance needed on a vehicle from battery to operator station/seat (10'?) would be zero impact on accuracy to the 10th of a volt as used for this type of test. Assuming the gauge of the wire is consistent with OEM. It would take a significantly longer lead to introduce noticeable inaccuracy in that situation.

Yes. The Volt function is extremely sensitive. The current drawn from the circuit it is measuring is so low (microamps) that the resistance of the leads has negligible effect on the reading.

 

[JasperFrank]

Known Good. I have bought several a batteries new, that I assumed were new good. And they were not. This can really mess with your strategy. Maybe I'm unlucky and just get the bad battery all the time. I return them, get another that is also bad. Then I also have a known good. And this works. So the second one gets returned. I think this this is an issue with parts these days. The first part bought doesn't work. And that's another whole 1/2 day to replace because the unit you got, didn't work. And then I'm the bad guy, because I'm upside down here, and the work, is still the work.

 

[fustsgt]

Thank you, I am about to head back out there to check the fuses. The ground is where LS put it and it makes sense, bottom plate.

No that does not make good sense. Your plate is rusted out, and I doubt that it is soundly connected to the engine block to provide a low resistance path to the starter. Many problems like this are solved by cleaning the ground cable connection point to the frame or engine block.

 

[4570Man]

Absolutely! This will work. And if you have a second person to help turn the key, will work just fine. It has been my experience that the leads on multimeters are not long enough to reach from the battery to the cab. Or from under the hood to the cab of pickups, cars, boats, etc. I've made longer leads to get me by in a pinch, and is possible, but is the readings accurate at that point?

Alternatively, you could spend less than $40 for a little digital load tester from Amazon (link) that you can use yourself without ever needing to turn the key. The one I linked is the one I use. I keep it with my electrical testing equipment, and if I ever suspect a battery, its simple to grab and use.

Just a thought while we wait to see what happened to this particular tractor.

Considering the extremely low amperage that the volt meter is going to pull I would feel pretty confident the alligator clip idea is reading correctly. I would trust my suggested idea more than I would trust a $40 load tester. Plus if you find the battery is good you still need to put the volt meter on the starter terminal to see what voltage you’re getting there while it’s attempting to crank.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Electrical problems I bet are number one most frustrating and like everything boils down to comfort level. I'm an electronic technician and had a company that all we did was troubleshoot consumer electronic equipment for 43 years so I had to be creative fabricating lots of odd things to speed up work time finding problems.
I bought a 1969 car at auction last year in beautiful original condition that started & ran but nothing electrical worked. To me it was easy and a pleasure removing dash and fixing every single problem so now 100% everything works.
It's always something simple. When it's 2 or more problems at once it can be tough...but to
me it's easy. I hate to see anything jerry-rigged. Like this 57 y.o. car it's all original even repaired the A.M. radio.
The car, truck, tractor, mower, etc. was designed & manufactured a certain way.
It worked. (VERY IMPORTANT!)
It was fine. Then one day something happened. The fix is simple!