Obviously, with that amp gauge pegged, you have a short circuit. Now, since International didn't use the foot starter after the 1949 KB-series trucks, I have to assume your truck is a '49 or older.
If you'd rather not try to figure out what's probably a 60+ year old rat's nest of wires, try Rhode Island Wire for a replacement wire harness [ www.riwire.com ]. OR you COULD start from the battery to the starter, and disconnect [and then replace] one wire at a time until you find the one that's shorted.
The old original wire harness had natural rubber over the wire, and then cloth over the rubber...and then the cloth was lacquered. The cloth rots, the lacquer makes it brittle, and the natural rubber deteriorates...and eventually, short circuits are inevitable.
First you have to find the short circuit...and eliminate it. As I said previously, start by removing all the wires from the starter. Then attach ONLY the cable from the battery. Then reattach wires one at a time until you find the circuit that has the short. I'd suggest that the first wire you reattach--or replace--would be the one from the terminal at the starter that goes to the ammeter...then check the one from the ammeter to the key switch.
That's how I'd proceed. Hope something in my post is helpful to you.
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Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
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