Am i stupid or to old to work on this stuff

Went to work on my case 310 today. Put a shut off valve on the gas tank. Hooked it all up. No leaks. works fine. Put a new alternator on it. Went to start it and it clicked. So I went through the cables, etc. Still no work. Checked wiring. Got 12 volts on them. Still wont try to start. Replaced the ground cable. Still wont work. Put jumper cables on starter. wont move. Jumpered starter solenoid. still wont move. Took starter switch out and start button. Replaced couple wires that looked bad. still wont start. Pulled spare starter off the shelf. Had to take it apart and clean it up to get it freed up. Put it back together. Put jumper hot cable on post and ground cable to the case and battery post. starter would not do anything. Got ------ off and slammed to jumper cable to the ground post of battery. What did I hear something. Did it again and the dang gone starter worked. Could it be my problem all along was in my ground cable. Took the ground cable off. sandblasted it and put it back on. tried the spare starter and it works fine. Hooked the battery to the main starter. didn't work. checked voltage where it is bolted on to the frame. 12 volts. checked the area around the cable. zero. Theres my problem. Moved the cable to a different location. Scraped all the paint off with new bolt. Hooked up the starter switch and button. Spins her like a top. My wife once told me that when the lord was passing out the brains I must of thought he said trains and hopped a ride. Must have been SLOW FREIGHT. Cause it was no zepher. Have a good day. Norm

I keep posting to check the ground cable connections FIRST, but as far as I know, nobody seems to take notice of that.

When I have a problem with the start of an engine , I look at the ground and positive cables first , learned that here on this site , maybe from you .

Sometimes even if I know how I seem to forget. Anyway its all hooked with the new alternator. when its running and I remove the battery cable she keeps on running, doesn't show many amps but guage does move some. Shuts off and starts with the key so its done. thanks for your comments. norm

If you hear hoofbeats , think horses. Not zebras.

LOL one of the guys on the Ford N forum preaches "clean tight and bright" for all electrical connections. And he's right. Glad you found the problem.

Rick

Yep when you hear hoof beats think horses but be prepared for Zebras cause you just never know

It's more fun to look for something else first. You never know, it might not be the ground. Then you check the ground and it's always the last thing you check.....because when you check the ground and that fixes it you never look for something else.

when i'm six feet under, then i'll know that i'm too old to work and enjoy tractors,,,lol

Well at least you checked and fixed all the other problems that might have gone bad at a later time. Yep I know the feeling, only 73 yrs old though.