Hey all, it's been one of those weekends. Went out to get some parts for the truck and it wouldn't fire up. Starter isn't clicking, so get a buddy to help me hammer tap it, fires up. Go ahead and get a new starter just to be safe, as I'm replacing it, I noticed a few of the flexplate gears are eaten. I don't have the means to to tear into it to replace the gear, but I figure a new starter can get me for a few months.

This is where I screw up, after replacing it don't bother testing it before tearing into my carburetor which needed a good cleaning. Only reason I bring this up is because I'm not 100% if it's related to the current issue, I re-assembled it exactly how I broke it down, except for the choke tube, which may have snapped off during the breakdown...

So I put it all back together today and I go to start the engine, starter spins but that's it, sounds like it tries to crank but then keeps spinning again, doesn't move forward in the process. Replaced the wires because they were pretty ghetto rigged, still nothing. Notice the truck still has power so I know the battery didn't crap out. Read it may be the solenoid so I replace that, and now none of the electric works on the truck. Take out the multimeter and the solenoid is receiving power, but neither the connection to the ignition module nor the starter are. Take the ignition wire to the battery and I hear a faint click and the solenoid sends out about 0.4v and that's it. If I rig the solenoid I can get the starter to start spinning again back to square one.

So I'm seeing two problems here, somewhere in the ignition system I'm not getting power to the solenoid, and I'm not sure how to troubleshoot that without replacing plugs, wires, etc.

After that little fiasco is taken care of comes the issue of the starter spinning. A few teeth on the flexplate missing shouldn't make or break it, right? I mean, it was starting up just fine prior. Is there anything in the carburetor assembly I could have messed up that would have anything to do with this? Nothing I can think of.

Thanks all in advance, and sorry for the long post. I'm not very mechanically inclined, been kind of learning it all as I go along.

Edit: Could have sworn I posted this in the pre-87 forum, but I guess not. My bad.

Edit2: Disregard any mention of a flywheel, I meant to say flexplate... I drive an auto.