We could really use some advice...

JAY AND EBBEN · Jan 2, 2011

Hi,
My son is 12 years old and I am 49. Last month was devastating for us. On November 1st our best friend (my father-in-law) died while hiking in the mountains. Then on the 13th of December my father was struck by a motor vehicle and was killed as well. Both men were the heads of both sides of our families.... the loss is indescribable. They were absolutely the guiding forces in our lives.

My father-in-law built post and beam buildings for a living, had a farm, wife and animals. He just finished his last building last month and was looking forward to his new retirement years and was going to enter it by building a hot rod with my son (my son is a gear head). Now he is gone... Horrible.

This is our first post... we are not dozer guys but are decent mechanics and level headed and safety minded.

To my surprise, Phil (grandpa and Father-in-law) had already taught my son how to drive the dozer (John Deere - 350B). Ebben was also taught to run his crane truck, when he was nine, to help with some short-handed lifts... I know this must sound crazy but the kid lives for this stuff. Anyway.... Ebben proved to my satisfaction that yes, he knew how to run it. So... with as much safety as is possible... I told him to twist the key and fire the iron horse up. Short story.... he pushed the momentary switch to light it up, but when he let go of it the starter kept chugging along and would not shut off! Yikes... I quickly sent Ebben on the fly to get a couple of wrenches and screwdrivers while I worked to locate the batteries. By the time he returned I had the covers off... and I managed to pull the terminals before the whole thing lit up and burned the barn to the ground.... BIG SCARE.

Question; The key would not kill the starter so I ASSUME the solenoid stuck. Is this a good guess? Can anyone tell me which plate the solenoid is under? and how to test it? or what a replacement number is? Also; any helpful hints for us to get started with a dozer are appreciated.. we have yet to get into the manual... we just checked the basics like oil etc. and were having a "lets just fire this sucker up" minute to prove to ourselves that we have the courage to move forward on the farm. We have already cleaned, oiled, and began working Phils 4 Wheel tractor... it is all a big step for us but we have no choice. Please do help us with advise and do not critique us too much for being in so deep so fast.. it is a very complicated story and we have no choice.

For the fun of it you can see us both on utube... just go to 'you tube' and type in '$1 sail boat' click on the top sail boat image - we started a slideshow of a 32' sailboat Ebben bought on craigslist for $1 (Really). We are having a great time restoring it. You'll see he is truly a motor head. The happy looking guy in the far seat of the pickup truck is Phil. Lord rest his soul - we miss him.

Please meet us by watching the slideshow - then please give us lots of advice on the starter problem and on dozers in general. The motor photo I am posting is from the $1 sailboat project.

Thank you in advance.

Jay and Ebben

Muhammad · Jan 2, 2011

Hello JAY AND EBBEN, welcome to TBN! Glad to see you posting. Hope you enjoy being a member of our community.

ultrarunner · Jan 2, 2011

JAY AND EBBEN said:
Hi,
My son is 12 years old and I am 49. Last month was devastating for us. On November 1st our best friend (my father-in-law) died while hiking in the mountains. Then on the 13th of December my father was struck by a motor vehicle and was killed as well. Both men were the heads of both sides of our families.... the loss is indescribable. They were absolutely the guiding forces in our lives.

My father-in-law built post and beam buildings for a living, had a farm, wife and animals. He just finished his last building last month and was looking forward to his new retirement years and was going to enter it by building a hot rod with my son (my son is a gear head). Now he is gone... Horrible.

This is our first post... we are not dozer guys but are decent mechanics and level headed and safety minded.

To my surprise, Phil (grandpa and Father-in-law) had already taught my son how to drive the dozer (350B). Ebben was also taught to run his crane truck, when he was nine, to help with some short-handed lifts... I know this must sound crazy but the kid lives for this stuff. Anyway.... Ebben proved to my satisfaction that yes, he knew how to run it. So... with as much safety as is possible... I told him to twist the key and fire the iron horse up. Short story.... he pushed the momentary switch to light it up, but when he let go of it the starter kept chugging along and would not shut off! Yikes... I quickly sent Ebben on the fly to get a couple of wrenches and screwdrivers while I worked to locate the batteries. By the time he returned I had the covers off... and I managed to pull the terminals before the whole thing lit up and burned the barn to the ground.... BIG SCARE.

Question; The key would not kill the starter so I ASSUME the solenoid stuck. Is this a good guess? Can anyone tell me which plate the solenoid is under? and how to test it? or what a replacement number is? Also; any helpful hints for us to get started with a dozer are appreciated.. we have yet to get into the manual... we just checked the basics like oil etc. and were having a "lets just fire this sucker up" minute to prove to ourselves that we have the courage to move forward on the farm. We have already cleaned, oiled, and began working Phils 4 Wheel tractor... it is all a big step for us but we have no choice. Please do help us with advise and do not critique us too much for being in so deep so fast.. it is a very complicated story and we have no choice.

For the fun of it you can see us both on utube... just go to 'you tube' and type in '$1.00 sail boat' click on the top sail boat image - we started a slideshow of a 32' sailboat Ebben bought on craigslist for $1.00 (Really). We are having a great time restoring it. You'll see he is truly a motor head. The happy looking guy in the far seat of the pickup truck is Phil. Lord rest his soul - we miss him.

Please meet us by watching the slideshow - then please give us lots of advice on the starter problem and on dozers in general. The motor photo I am posting is from the $1.00 sailboat project.

Thank you in advance.

Jay and Ebben

Motor looks like and atomic 4

Some of the guys with old equipment will add a master batter disconnect for insurance.

Sounds like you've had a go of it.

Great the family likes to work together... makes for great memories. One of my all time best childhood memories was steering/driving my Grandfathers bailer at 2 mph... he had it all set and all I had to do is steer down one row and go back the next... great memories for a 5 year old and even have the picture to prove it!~

CompactTractorFan · Jan 2, 2011

Welcome to TBN!!! Maybe repost in the "parts/repairs" or "construction equipment" sections. :thumbsup:

tthopskin@yahoo.ca · Jan 3, 2011

this happened to me and my father --it was to cold and the battery not up to par --what happens is the starter locks in by the solenoid the motor spins when it starts to throw out the starter if it dose not start it will stick in ---it cost us a new starter $455 after that we put in a disconnect switch to never let it happen again -and i put one on my tractor too $35 to $455 --the $35 is better--- so i would say you need a new starter

hope this helps --one reason we started putting in the disconnect switch was dad went to the barn one morning he walked past the tractor it was ok on the way back by the tractor it was smoking from shorting out from the frost ,,we never put a tractor in the barn after that --the same started in the barn one day from frost in the panel box we shut the power of to the barn after that too

PS you solenoid is on the starter