A few weeks back, while idling, my 97 4.6L F150 just died. Tried to start again, nothing. Proceeded to tow it back to the driveway. Battery was old and decided to go ahead and replace it. Still nothing, so i replaced the starter, battery cables (minor corrosion on terminals) and the solenoid. It now at least makes an effort to try to crank over, but won't. All lights, radio, etc are a go. Oil is measuring on dipstick. Cleaned and reattached the grounds. Is there something i'm missing. Put a breaker bar on the motor and got it to turn, so it's not locked up. Should i take the starter off and bench test it to make sure i didn't get a bad one? The truck is old and not to long for this world, i just wanted to make it one more year before she takes the big tow truck ride off into the sunset. Any help would be appreciated.

 

I just love these type stories, no offense intended, Famous 3 years ago , "I just wanna get one more year out of it" loL.
Now,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,so there is no mistake here , what do you mean by won't crank over ?
If the engine cranks but does not start are 2 different things.
If it doesn't crank over , that means the starter is not doing anything.
If it cranks over , but does not start running that is something completely different.
Which is it?

 

When turning the key, it clicks and you can hear/feel like the starter tries to turn. Not more than a second of time and that is it.

 

Put the headlights on. Do they glow to full briteness?
If no , battery , cable problem.
what do the headlights do when you attempt to start the engine?
If they go dim, battery low, high resistance in cables or starter pulling too much current.
To confirm battery problem , jump it with jumper cables and see what you get.
If no change and you already have new cables and good connections, get another starter.