New member & new to me JD350

[Crashed_CT]

first - Thank you for accepting my join request. I am hoping to contribute as much as I learn once I am up to speed on what I have. I believe this might be in the wrong board and I apologize if that is the case. I recently bought what I believe is a 1965 JD350 Crawler. I am basing that on the S/N being in the low 010070 range. she's a good machine but has some issues I am trying to learn about and work thru. I recently replaced all the T fittings on the fuel return lines and fixed a decent diesel leak. I also redid (disconnected, grinded clean and reset) the battery ground leads. This seemed to resolve a crank no start issue for a bit.. but now it is back and I am not sure how to resolve it. Batteries are new, ground wires re-done, when I turn the key it clicks like it wants to engage the starter but nothing happens. when it decides to start it runs great.. but it's a rare occurance it seems as it doesnt like to start. Cause it's a crawler it's difficult to get into the engine bay with the arms down.. so I am just wondering if anyone has seen this and where to look. I am also digging into the tech manual as well to try and diagnose. Once I get this sorted its onto adjusting the steering clutches.. Thank you in advance for any help/ideas.

[dtoots1]

Welcome aboard..
First thing comes to mind...how are the battery cables themselves..i made new ones for my machine. See that is a diesel so a heft one...have you taken the starter out and tested it? sounds like could possibly be bendix hung up and not retracting.

[Jim B]

Welcome to the Boards. Don't be surprised to find your thread gets moved to the Late Models Board, which is where 350 and later crawler threads belong.

Did you clean both ends of all the cables?

With the crawler in neutral try jumping between the small S terminal on the solenoid to the battery positive cable stud on the solenoid with a jumper wire or such. If it cranks the starter every time when you do that, it is a sign of a bad start switch. bad neutral safety switch, or bad connections. If it doesn't crank over when jumped it may be the solenoid or starter.

[Crashed_CT]

thank you guys.. I made new battery cables when I first looked to resolve the issue as I try to do things once (doesn't ever seem to work but I do try) - I will check the starter as suggested. Thanks for the suggestions.