I'm jumping in a bit late on this one but it sounds like you need a bit of help. Listen to Spahr69.

In your original post you said, "You have to pull on the positive cable and the power comes back on." When battery cables get corroded inside the insulation the copper becomes green, gets brittle and breaks. When your battery cable does this it can conduct enough current to power up the dash, etc but as soon as you try to put a heavy load on (staring the engine) stuff gets hot and the minimal connection inside the cable goes away! By pulling on the cable you're causing the broken area to move around and force a connection but not enough to crank it.

A loose/dirty connection on either end of the cable can have the same effect. Many folks will clean the battery end of the cable & forget it's got two ends. They can get loose or dirty at both ends.

If I were you I'd start by looking at that positive cable since you mentioned pulling on it in brought the power back on in your original post. Trust me on this, I've been a professional wrench for close to 30 yrs.

Hope this helps! Let us know what you find.
Jim

 

=)

 

Thank you. Great advice with credentials to back it up. I've been turning wrenches for about 10 years bow and while your response makes total common sence I completely over looked it. I will do this. And still replace th starter. The load I read on my meter says it's getting power but the solenoid isn't kicking in half the time. But I will check the lead. Thanks

 

Forgot to mention. My wrench turning has been on helicopters Alot of the knowledge can be carried over but some can't. I will refer back to you on future jeep headaches. Thanks again