JD 350B Starting Electrical Issue

[Engine One Eight]

My 350B Dozer doesnt want to start. Acts like a dead battery. I had the starter rebuilt by a reliable shop in Tulsa, Put a new battery in and you still have to jump start it. When you jump it she starts right up immediately, usually on the first crank. The negative cable is grounded to the battery compartment, I cleaned this up and put a couple star washers in it did not help. Are there any typical problems I should be looking for? thanks for the help

 

[reddog848]

Had same issue. Change battery cables to 1/0 and wire brush connector ends. Make sure the battery terminals on cables are 1. made onto the cables or 2. solder them very good to the cables. The cables are probably corroded inside the outer sheath or just not large enough.
Sometimes mine wouldn't start with just one battery to jump it and I had to use the dual setup on my truck. Don't always trust a rebuilt starter...Have it checked...yeah, pain in the @#$!%%.
Hope you get it.
Fred

 

[Bob Bancroft]

Sounds like when you get juice to the starter it works. Many applications now ground the battery right back to the starter. So some cable replacement and/or re-routing is probably in order.

 

[JDemaris]

It it cranking slow, or not cranking at all before you jump it? And define what you call jump starting?" Running heavy gauge cables from power-source to batteries, or just sticking a screwdriver on the "S" terminal of the starter-solenoid? If the latter, the main wire-harness connector tends to get loose and lose connection - under the hood.

 

[Engine One Eight]

More info for JD. The engine wont turn over at all or will turn over barely. I'm jump starting it with jumper cables off my service truck or another tractor. The cables appear to be original.

I'm going to get it into my shop soon as I just discovered I had two broken bolts on the front right side cross beam.

Thanks for the help

 

[Fordman6442]

Believe it or not I had a customer buy a battery from me and phoned to say it was dead when he installed it. He could use jumpers and it started fine. I said bring it back and I would make it right to him. He called back an hour later and said its fine now, when I removed the black plastic cap off the neg post all was well

 

[Heat Houser]

This suggestion assumes that you attached the jumper cables ground side to the starter case/frame and not to the battery ground post/clamp.

You may want to do a voltage check (while cranking) between the starter case/frame and the ground post on the battery. If you read voltage, you have a poor ground. Possible causes, paint on the starter mounting flange insulating the starter from the block. Bad ground strap from engine block to crawler frame (assumes rubber mounted engine) Poor electrical connection between the battery compartment and crawler frame.

Many people forget about the ground side as it is the other half of the circuit.

 

[Engine One Eight]

Problem Solved

It was the "firewall" connector. Connections were full of dirt and rusty. A little contact cleaner and we were back in business.

 

[JDemaris]

Yes, #1 trouble spot on 350s. We wound up splicing many together and eliminating the plug-in connector.