Help Needed - Starter relay failure and Subsequent problems

[dirtballgear]

First my starter went out so I replaced it with a 28L. It worked for 3 days and it went out. This time it burnt up a bunch of stuff. I tested the starter relay prior to the new starter being installed and everything checked. 2 days later something failed and it pulled a huge load on my volt meter and subsequently melted the solenoid and I had starter run on til something else melted. So I then did the following:

Had a new solenoid installed and the starter tested
Installed the doghead relay

Problems

No power to the solenoid from the doghead relay though power leaves the relay via the red wire
Volt meter does not work
Gen 2 light doesnt work

Things I have checked
Alternators are charging
24Volt is coming to the solenoid from the big red wire
Doghead relay and the other 2 relays beside it all "click"
Doghead is sending juice out of the red wire when ignition is engaged

Temporary fix:

I have ran jumper wire from fuse box to get juice to solenoid ( I know this is not the proper fix) and now the truck starts but is not happy when trying to start


What have I missed? Any help would be greatly appreciated as the 2 mechanics who I have had it too havent helped a bit.

 

[cpf240]

Probably a burned fusible link under the hood. They can *appear* to be good to the eye, so some suggest tugging on them to see if they come apart. They may even pass a continuity test, but won't handle any real load. I believe there is a thread in the CUCV forum stickies about them.