TC35DA won't turn over

[gmason]

Hello again TBN, not sure if anyone has seen exactly this situation but I thought I'd put it our here to see.
Tractor started and ran just fine 5 days ago, shut it off and tried to start it up and the 3 lights on the dash came on and the heater lamp went off and I tried to start. All I heard was a click from the left side and then nothing, the lights looked like they went low on power. Then I shut it off and went and did something else and came back and turned the key and the lights came back on and the same thing happened again. I suspected maybe a drained battery since I hadn't run the tractor much this month. I pulled my truck up to it and was able to jump start it without any issues. I pulled it back to the barn and let it run for 5min, then turned it off and tried starting it right back up and got the click again. so I put a charger on the battery and came out the next day with my multimeter and got 13.4 volts off the battery terminals.
when I stick the red+ test lead on the clamp instead of the battery terminal my voltage went down to 12.8.
I cleaned both the terminal and the clamp with a wire brush and still get a voltage drop.

I removed the ground cable and inspected it and wire brushed the frame and the terminal connector, hit both with WD40. No change in the condition or voltage. I wrapped a 12awg copper wire around the - terminal and then wrapped the other end around a bolt on the frame and clamped both and tried to start with the same issues. So I'm pretty sure the issue is not on my ground side.
So this morning I check the continuity between the - battery clamp and the red bolt on the starter, and got some number that were bouncing around from just above 0 to .5mohns with nothing turned on.
One other thing I noticed was the battery pole to pole was at 13.4v after charging but after one try of starting the voltage dropped to 13.01v, so I must be getting a huge power drain to somewhere during the starting process. I would think the 3 glow plugs warming for 5sec would be that much of a drain on a 700amp battery.

I really leaning toward just replacing that whole cable from the battery to the started with a new NH part for about $70.
Anyone run across a similar issue? replaced the RED cable?
doesn't look to difficult, if I can get my hands into some of those tight places around the starter and alternator.

thanks
gary

 

[George2615]

If you think the red cable is bad and want to change it take it off and go to an auto parts store. You can buy a replacement for much less than $70. If you also take your fully charged battery with you they will load test it for you for free. Then you'll know whether its the battery or not.

 

[gmason]

George, I haven't taken the old cable off of the tractor yet, but right after it goes through the radiator bracket it has a plastic sleeve around it and back by the Alternator it has 2 wires coming out of the sleeve to the ALT, and the rest goes back to the Starter. The connection to the starter has a rubber boot over it and it's behind some of the hydraulic pipes so I can't get a good view of the wires going to/from the starter yet.
I replace the ground cable a few years ago with a new one from the auto store but that was only 18-24" long, this one runs ~3ft back to the starter.

 

[George2615]

Not sure but I doubt NH would have tapped into the middle of the red cable to run wires to the alt. Its probably just a protective cover to run the alt. wires alongside the red cable to where they terminate. I'd take the sleeve off to check where they go. I've never seen a red cable that was tapped into. Usually they are one cable from battery to starter.

 

[Navasot]

If you want to know if its that cable jump it off of the starter and see how it acts

 

[gmason]

I got the cable off last night after busting some knuckles on some small spaces, and yes the cable is not spliced but 2 more wires crimped into the end for the starter that lead back toward the battery for the alt and one that has a watertight plug. I have pictures that i'll get up here in a bit. I took it to our local auto parts store, not NAPA, and they said they didn't even carry the 2awg wire let alone have the tools to make a cable setup like this. The guys did say that most of the problems occur on these up at the battery clamp, and that cutting the lead clamp off the wire and cleaning it up and putting a new clamp on would probably fix my continuity problem.
so I cut off my old clamp to expose the copper wire and I can see some acid powder and some corrosion in the wire down about 1" from the insulation I stripped off.
I'm going to put it in some baking soda solution later and see if that will clean it up enough before I clamp down the wire in my new clamp.
gary

 

[gmason]

here's a picture of the end after I cut off the clamp
you can see some of the corrosion on the wires

this end is soaking in a baking soda solution right now

 

[George2615]

If you have enough wire (the 2 that are crimped into the starter end) just cut them off and buy 2 crimp on ring terminals large enough to fit on the starter lug. Crimp them on the smaller wires so you can put them on the starter lug. That way all 3 wires will be attached to the starter under the same nut.

 

[Coyote machine]

Before you crimp the wires coat them with some dielectric grease to ****** any further corrosion and then seal the area where the cables exit the crimp with spray on battery protector; both available at any decent auto parts store. A good place to get new heavy duty wire cables made up is any marine supply store like a West Marine. Marine wire is also higher quality corrosion resistant coated copper for use in salt prone environments.

 

[gmason]

Thanks guys... well I wanted to check if this cable was my problem, so I cleaned the end copper and last cleaned with vinegar and salt for making the copper wires nice clean. Then I put the new clamp on that end and checked the continuity from both end and it was nice 0.0
So just for kicks, I went out and put the lug on the starting bolt and then put the clamp on the + pos and sure enough the tractor Started fine. I cut it off as soon as I got the FEL up. So that must been the problem at the end cable to the battery clamp.
here's a pic from the other end for the starter and alt