After the truck was sitting for about 4 months, I put A battery and new ground cable in. When the key is turned on all accessories work but when you try to start it there is a clunk and everything shuts off, I wiggle the battery cables and the accessories work again. Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

Sounds like you're on the right track. Loose or corroded cable, or neglected ground connections. Check for cables that are getting hot after trying to start. It's possible there is enough current getting through to light up the dash, but not enough for the starter, they really hog the juice so everything has to be clean and tight.

Is it a new battery? Regardless charge it up thoroughly overnight, don't leave anything in troubleshooting to chance.

 

Alright thanks for the reply

 

AGREE: Sounds like bad electrical connection. It is not making a good contact.



John

 

Adding more (and larger) ground wires are a must on these old trucks.install a ground wire from battery to frame,frame to engine, then link the inner fenders to the (engine side) cab firewall, there must be a ground from the engine(usually on the top, near the rear of the

intake manifold) to the engine firewall, and having one from the frame to the bed isn't a bad idea either. I installed a positive or power stud. so most of my accessaries are not on the solenoid.
Since my inner fenders are rusty I ran a 12 ga ground from the mount of the starter solenoid to the engine firewall.

 

One ground wire to the engine, one to the front of the Alternator mount bolt. For the frame ground, I drilled a hole next to the VIN stamp in the frame.




The 12 ga black wire comes from the battery neg terminal. One of the green wires is an extension of the pass. side headlight, the other green wire is a ground for the voltage regulator. I later added a ground wire at the horn mounting bolt. I did the same thing on the driver's side. Now I have a set of KNOWN good grounds, and I have access to them!