Case 580B backhoe won't crank - help!

So- I need to fix it myself.

Here's the Info:
Backhoe sat all winter unused at a friend's house last year. When he tried to start it, he said the solenoid was sticky- had to bang it to get it to engage.

Then it totally failed in the spring, so he replaced the solenoid. New battery as well. This worked fine until now.

Last night it cranked slower than normal, but did start. I did some work and shut it down. Then a few minutes later had to start it again- dead. No crank, no clunk.

I put a charger on the battery overnight just in case. This morning, no change. When I press the starter button, I do see the ammeter on the charger rise a bit. So this tells me that current is getting to the solenoid. The ignition light is bright and dims slightly when the starter is pressed.

I tapped it with a hammer while holding starter button to no effect.

So, I guess the starter comes off this weekend and I'll take apart and look for places to clean and lube. Any other suggestions?

The first thing to check is that the solenoid is actually operating. It sounds like it is getting current, but listen carefully for a click, or put your hand on it while hitting the start button. (Safety first, of course!)

If no click, it could be a bad solenoid or a bad ground or other electrical connection to the solenoid. Depending on the configuration of the solenoid, it should be possible to short between the solenoid terminal and either ground or + 12 volts to bypass the starting circuit, and verify that hte problem is not there.

If it clicks but the starter doesn"t spin, then the likeliest thing is the starter, or the connections from battery to starter.

As a last and somewhat risky resort, you can take the battery cable direct to the starter, although the handheld connection probably won"t carry enough current to start the motor, it woill verify that the starter will/won"t spin. If you do this, disconnect the battery end of the cable from the battery, attach the solenoid end to the starter, and then manually and firmly but just for a second touch the battery end of the cable to the battery post. The reason for this is that the solenoid terminal threads might be damaged by the arc if the starter is shorted or nearly so. If this doesn"t spin the starter or cause it to engage the flywheel, the starter is definitely bad.

Be careful because this will make a lot of sparks when the battery lesd is touched to the starter terminal, which could ignite any gasoline or other combustibles nearby. Also, the sparks may contain some metallic lead.

If the starter is bad, chances are fairly good that a field coil or the armature is shorted, which means that it will require a shop that can rewind or replace these parts to repair it. It"s not a home shop kind of job.

Hope this helps. Be careful, and good luck.

Robert F