1977 ford 4600 wont start

[coachsmith]

tractor belonged to my late father inlaw. brought it home this weekend to use around the house. cut off a few times due to clogged screen in fuel tank. got that fixed. went to start it and it wont turn over. lights on dash work but it acts as if its safety issue. it is in neutral and pto is not on. battery is new however i went to check connections and on the solenoid, there is a weird looking tab on it that im not sure what it is for. appears to have a rubber insulation. actually saw spark come from it as if it was a short. not sure if this is the problem why it wont start.

 

[Jerry/MT]

tractor belonged to my late father inlaw. brought it home this weekend to use around the house. cut off a few times due to clogged screen in fuel tank. got that fixed. went to start it and it wont turn over. lights on dash work but it acts as if its safety issue. it is in neutral and pto is not on. battery is new however i went to check connections and on the solenoid, there is a weird looking tab on it that im not sure what it is for. appears to have a rubber insulation. actually saw spark come from it as if it was a short. not sure if this is the problem why it wont start.
View attachment 395353

The nut that holds the battery cable on is missing.

 

[coachsmith]

I took the nut off to get a better pic of that black piece under it.

 

[TractorTech]

That is a separator tab coming off of the +side and is insulated with rubber.
Did you check or bypass the neutral start switch to see if that is acting up? Of course with the transmission in neutral.

 

[RickB]

To be clear, the range lever (Hi-Lo) has to be in neutral.

 

[coachsmith]

the hi/lo is in neutral also. i havent tried to bypass anything yet. was wondering about that separator tab, a little of the insulation is worn and is touching the other nut. could this be causing my problem? guess i will get the test light out today and see if im getting juice there.

 

[Soundguy]

try holding key to start and running the range shifter thru N a few times... sometimes a bad switch can be sniffed out this way.

Do this, of course, after you make sure all connections on the solenoid are good. if you see any arcing or sparking at the solenoid.. those need to be addressed first.