I have a Big Bear 400 that when trying to use the electric start the solenoid just clicks. I have tried by passing the solenoid and placing power straight to the starter and it still wont turn it over. the starter is also brand new cause i thought that's what it was in the beginning. Another thing i noticed is that when pressing the hand break to start it because its in gear the solenoid clicks, but if i release the hand brake the solenoid starts buzzing instead of clicking when clicking the start button. Any suggestions would be great on what this might be, i have ran out of ideas.

 

Is the battery flat? If you have shorted the solenoid terminals, you have connected the battery direct to the starter so either one of the main leads, earth or "live" has a bad connection, or the battery is flat, or the new starter is faulty, or the engine is seized.

 

Ok I figured it out i was messing with it last night and decided that if it was getting power to the starter the only other thing it could be missing is ground. So i took a jumper from the negative on the battery and clamped it to the shell of the starter, and it turned right over. this meant that the engine block itself was not a good enough ground for the starter. There is no ground strap going from the motor to to frame so I unbolted the plates on the motor mounts cleaned them and now everything works great.