Have not "checked" the ground from battery to frame.. just assumed.. duh, i'll try that this evening. Also, no matter what i do, when i test for juice at the solenoid, i never get anything on the other "big lug." Only on hot coming in and yes, on the small term when key in start position. NO circumstance will it light up on the other big lug going to the starter... BUT, i have power at the proper locations on the coil when key is on....

Nobody asked because the OP stated it turned by hand the very first post.

Engine will turn when i touch hot side of battery charger to starter....

Don't know about the starter being bad... wouldn't i still have power to it even if it wouldn't work?

I swapped coils from the 76 to the 75... 76 still starts, 75 won't...

Forgive me if anyone already asked this , I didn't see it....

But my question is:
Does your solenoid have one small terminal and two big terminals or
two small terminals and two big terminals??

the orig one had two big and one small... the one i replaced it with has 2 each...
didn't think the 4th term (small one) would matter.. Only one small had nut on it, so i used that one.

oh, and believe me, i know the thing is filthy... ("that's one oily coil")... i plan to fully clean it soon, but figured i'd rather put my efforts into getting it started first... ;)

It does matter.
The solenoids with one small terminal get their ground through the metal case.
The solenoids with two small terminals energize by putting battery to one small terminal and ground to the other.
Run a wire from your other small terminal to chassis ground and you should be good to go.

OK, cool! I'll try that this evening...

FYI everyone, i'm gathering info during the day (while at work) and then i print off all this stuff and try it in the evenings...

Once i get it running, i'll have some clutch / brake questions... (basically it has no brakes. lol )

Iron man has it. No ground to that style of solenoid is what's causing your issue. Good call iron man, it's all in the details.

hmmmmm... but i didn't have anything prior to installing this new solenoid and it was a "two big lug and one small lug" unit... BUT, i'll sneak home at lunch time and ground that 2nd small lug and see what happens... standby for results.. thanks guys!!