Newbie with electrical issue on my 85 Scottsdale that belonged to my dad

Set up ford style solonoid on inner fender with new battery, cables and 2nd new solonoid...just trying to engage starter, problem is to low voltage on starter side of solonoid to engage starter....a real puzzler, as mentioned 2nd new solonoid, so im sure both could not be bad...just dosent make sense, tried crossing terminals and remote start button, by passing evrything just dont have the voltage on the starter side of solenoid and great voltage on battery side....any ideas or suggestions sure would be aporeciated

could be a burned up fusible link? isn't there one on the way to the starter?

Well like i said very low voltage on starter post on solenoid, on battery side its strong....thinking about trying to go back to orignal set up although im not crazy about especially after the expence and work involed in the set up which everyone that has done really likes....so ill sleep on it and go from there, just dosent make sense but thanks for the come back !

That solenoid is a simple device.
First make sure the mounting tabs for the solenoid have a good ground to the fender and the fender is grounded to the engine block. It will not work without a good ground connection.
- Two big terminals and a small “S” terminal for the activation wire. Ignore the other small terminal if you have HEI.
- 12 volts applied to the S terminal should make a (zero resistance) connection between the two large terminals.
If you disconnect cables from the two large terminals, and apply 12 volts from the truck to the small terminal, what is the resistance you measure between the two large terminals? Are you getting 12 volts on the small terminal when you turn the ignition key to start?

You can verify this with any cheap VOM that measures resistance, or even use a test light (but that won’t show exact resistance).

Thanks for help on the ground issue, i mounted a ground strap (NAPA $5) from fame to engine block where alternator mounts and run another wire from negative battery terminal to 2nd small post on solonoid...crossed positive to switch and low and behold starter engaged and motor turned....now will start trying to figure out why i dont have any power in cab or ignition switch but for now im gonna take a break....again thanks for the help, ill probably be asking questions again later..

Not to complicate this but older Fords use a fender mounted starter solenoid. On the Mustang forums some have had issues with those sticking and/or melting. Buy a name brand or if possible a good used original.

It sounds like your problem is poor grounding. You need to make sure the starter body has a clean metal to metal contact with the mounting pad on the block. You also need to make sure that the bolts are clean. Then run a 4 gauge wire from the alternator bracket to the frame and from the frame to the negative side of the battery.

Power from the battery to the cab comes from two or three wires running from the large main post on the starter that the main starter wire from the battery runs to. Those wires should have fusible links on them and run up to the fuse box and to a circuit breaker block on the firewall near the brake booster. If any of those fusible links are bad, or the wires aren't connected, you will not have battery or ignition power in the cab.