Started off just doing this once in a great while. I'd turn the key and it would just click but after doing it 2 or 3 times it would start. My first thought is bad battery connection or starter connection. I've taken off all connections and cleaned them well but the issue is getting worse. Would this maybe be the starter solenoid on the passenger fender well going out?

 

if you hear the starter click, the relay on fender is most likely ok

Sounds like you need a starter. might as well get a newer style SD one

good info here
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ou-cranky.html

 

That's an awesome write up Knottyrope. Sounds like I need to do some more cleaning or change out some cables before I get a new starter. Good info!

 

Sounds like a starter to me. Mind did this a few months ago. I was at the job site and lucky the hammer trick got her to start once last time before I put a sd starter in. The superduty starter starts my truck like 2x faster than my old warn out obs starter. Money well spent

 

Thanks, my dad deserves the real credit. He taught me a lot about electronics and diagnosing my slow cranking Buick in seconds by putting his hand on the grounding lug on the block and said it should not get hot to the touch. After a few minutes of cleaning that connection, it cranked fast.

It don't think its the cause of your issue but it wont hurt a thing and actually make it easier to start with a starter turning at full speed.

 

What's the hammer trick?

 

Mine did the same thing. I had a broken battery post that would only work intermittently. It was misleading at first, felt like a dead battery or corroded terminals. Wiggle the battery post. If you have wedged a screw in battery terminal post, because your main cable end is loose, then that could damage the battery post

 

 

I vaguely recollect that when mine went out, I could still hear clicking when turning the key. At first it was intermittent, and would crank on second key turn, then deteriorated to several anxious turns of key before cranking before I checked the fender solenoid and replaced it.

You hear clicking, which means you have starter signal coming from the key switch and the park / neutral / clutch safeties are working. The fender solenoid may be clicking, but not sending current to the main solenoid on the starter. It's worth checking voltage on the two larger terminals on the fender solenoid before tapping the starter. With key turned (and in park / neutral or clutch depressed), both large terminals should read 12 volts relative to ground. If neither reads +12 v, you have a cable or connection problem from the battery. If the battery (feed) side terminal reads +12 v but the starter (load) side doesn't, likely the fender solenoid is bad. If both terminals read +12 v, the problem is somewhere downstream... cable / connections to the starter, or the starter itself.

I vaguely recollect that the fender solenoid is grounded through its case to the chassis, but if the ground is corroded, you wouldn't hear clicking.

Another trick is to short across the fender solenoid... if the solenoid is bad, this should crank the engine... but make sure you have it in park / neutral / clutch depressed, because it bypasses the safety switches.

I have heard that the hammer trick can permanently damage a starter (cracking brittle ceramic permanent magnets), so it's probably best used as a get-me-home last resort.

My $0.02.

 

Look at #3
https://www.wikihow.com/Magnetize-Steel