Got to Rausch early 11/24. Unloaded the trailer in the staging area, no problem-o. Loaded gear/coolers into the 40, aired down, jumped in and fired up, right? Not quite. All I got was the dreaded ‘click-click’ when turning the key. Hmm...battery (gel cell) is less than a year old, lights are bright, and all the other electricals are working? The truck is an automatic too, so there’s no bump starting. Jeff rapped on the starter a couple of times with a half-inch drive ratchet with no luck.
It had done this at home the previous day, the click-click, and I simply hit the 50 amp switch on the battery charger and it started right up! Unfortunately I couldn’t do that now. Tried to jump it off with cables however some ‘unknown’ person on the other end of the jumpers had reversed the polarity of the jumper cables at Jeff’s 55 (pos on neg). Probably sat like that for a good minute if not longer before it was discovered. Bad ju-ju. No exploding battery, tho.
Corrected the polarity, let sit for several minutes attempting to charge but still nothing.
At this point I’m suspecting either the fusible link, a bad solenoid, or more likely a dead spot on the starter. In my mind I know if I crossed the terminals at the starter solenoid and the truck started, I’d make the mistake of hitting the trail with everyone else with a rig of questionable mechanical/electrical reliability. Not a good way to start the day.
Deciding not to subject others in the group to my electrical issue, I had Jeff drag me to the back of the trailer and we winched the 40 up using the 8274. The winch pulled hard as it always does so I knew it wasn’t a battery issue. Motored home with no problems.
Once in the driveway, I turned on the key in the 40 (still on the trailer), and then crossed the positive pole on the solenoid to the ‘start’ pole with a screwdriver and it started right up.
I went into the house, dug around a little and found the Lifetime Warranty and receipt for the starter (dated 03/01), then called NAPA. They’ll have a new starter and solenoid for me on Monday.
I hope that’s the only electrical problem resulting from yesterday.
Mike in PA
It had done this at home the previous day, the click-click, and I simply hit the 50 amp switch on the battery charger and it started right up! Unfortunately I couldn’t do that now. Tried to jump it off with cables however some ‘unknown’ person on the other end of the jumpers had reversed the polarity of the jumper cables at Jeff’s 55 (pos on neg). Probably sat like that for a good minute if not longer before it was discovered. Bad ju-ju. No exploding battery, tho.
Corrected the polarity, let sit for several minutes attempting to charge but still nothing.
At this point I’m suspecting either the fusible link, a bad solenoid, or more likely a dead spot on the starter. In my mind I know if I crossed the terminals at the starter solenoid and the truck started, I’d make the mistake of hitting the trail with everyone else with a rig of questionable mechanical/electrical reliability. Not a good way to start the day.
Deciding not to subject others in the group to my electrical issue, I had Jeff drag me to the back of the trailer and we winched the 40 up using the 8274. The winch pulled hard as it always does so I knew it wasn’t a battery issue. Motored home with no problems.
Once in the driveway, I turned on the key in the 40 (still on the trailer), and then crossed the positive pole on the solenoid to the ‘start’ pole with a screwdriver and it started right up.
I went into the house, dug around a little and found the Lifetime Warranty and receipt for the starter (dated 03/01), then called NAPA. They’ll have a new starter and solenoid for me on Monday.
I hope that’s the only electrical problem resulting from yesterday.
Mike in PA
no biggie
