Hey first time poster here. I recently purchased a 1985 Ford F150 4-speed with the inline 6 from my father-in-law I purchased it with the goal to get it back to proper mechanical and safe driving condition to have an old Reliable truck to get back and forth to work(only a 10 mile drive total). When I first purchased the truck it definitely had some issues you can tell somebody had no clue what they were doing yet somehow managed to get it to run. In order to start the truck you would turn the key to the start position then you would have to jump the starter solenoid in order to get it to start and to run. As soon as I got it home I purchased a new starter solenoid and an ignition switch hoping to fix the problem only to make a bigger mess. Now when trying to jump the solenoid it will crank but will not run. And the only time I can get it to fire up is when jumping from the small post with the small starter wire on a boot to the bigger post with the battery terminal and all the other wires. I've been reading a lot of forums on this website and there is a lot of knowledgeable people on here so I figured why not make a post and see If I can't make a couple steps in the right direction to get this truck back to its former glory. I can provide pictures or more details. Hope to get the ball rolling and get this ol beauty back on the road. Any help is very appreciated. TIA

 

I'm going through/gone through similar issues. Particularly on a 1989 f350. That ignition switch is a pain to swap.

That said, if it's anything like the 1986 I have, it sounds like you're bypassing the fuel relay when your running a wire from the small post to the battery power. Which would turn the fuel pump on manually. So could be the relay. Or a fuel pump relay if your truck has one.

youd hear the pump turn on when you put a wire from the small post to the bat pos if I'm right.

 

A common problem with these trucks, the ignition actuator breaks. This piece is up inside the column.

The first thing to do is get it back to where you started. That is, starting by jumping and running with the key in run. Sounds like you created another problem when changing the switch. The new switch should have had a locating pin to set it properly when mounting it.

Once you get back to where you can get it to start with the jumper, running with the key in run, turn it off, take the short little shroud off around the column next to the cluster. Move the keyswitch back and forth, you should see a small rod moving back and forth on top of the column. Get some pliers, turn the keyswitch to run and spring it over to start. While holding it, take the pliers and pinch the little rod on top of the column and push it toward the cluster. If it cranks over, your ignition actuator is broken inside the column.

 

Do you have a tilt wheel? The ignition actuator issue is just for tilt wheels.
You move the rod, on the left side, forward to tilt the wheel.

https://steeringcolumnservices.com/s...structions.php

https://a.co/d/b5Cak3d

There are YouTube videos, just do a search.
Jim