1984 VF700F Starting issue

I just bought a 1984 VF700F that wasn't in running condition, and was pretty well beat. The starting button was broke out of the housing, and a kill switch was wired up. I tried to use the kill switch, and it seemed to be bad, so I got rid of it.

Now to the meat and potatoes, the bike will not turn over. It rolled with the spark plugs out and in gear, so it's not locked up. I had the bike in neutral, the clutch pulled in anyways, in case there's a clutch safety switch, and the key in the on position. I tried both jumping the connection on the solenoid, and connecting the wires that complete a circuit for the starter button when pressing on. With either attempt, I just heard an electrical noise, but no attempts to crank the engine over.

I'd prefer to not buy a right hand switch until I know the bike runs, and will be a good bike/engine to rebuild.

Any ideas other than testing the solenoid or the starter itself?

 

Jumper solenoid. They are known to go bad. See if you can bump the starter over by putting the bike in gear and rocking back and forth. Armature dead spot? Brushes?
Put a volt meter at the starter first to see if you have 12v. That will tell you where to start looking.

 

If by jumper solenoid, you mean the thing the manual calls the starter solenoid, I confirmed it was bad by doing the resistance test as instructed by the manual. Curiously enough though, I touched together the two wires connecting to the starter solenoid(big no-no, I know) and the starter didn't spin. I'm wondering if I have more than one electric issue.

But what do you mean by dead spot? Like a bad spot on the starter?

 

Yes a bad spot on the starter armature or a bad brush touching the armature. Put 12v right to the starter pole it's self and the negative to it's case or engine case. Do this directly off the battery. The starter should spin.

 

I'm going to check it out right now, it also appears that the cable from the solenoid to the starter broke or the covers ripped, and was taped again. I'm going to first test the starter directly with a battery charger, and then test the charge at the starter, especially if it cranks, that would likely be my issue.

Thanks for your help, and I'll let you know what I find.