Negative battery terminal gets hot

HELP! My truck has a short some where. When I try to start it the negative terminal gets hot. Now it does nothing. The starter is good and the battery is good. What is wrong? I'm at my wits end on this and running very short of time. Please Help!


I just replaced the engine. When I finally got the timing set it started. But the ground on the battery started getting really hot and smoking. The starter had a hard time turning so I got replaced it. After that it did fine. Then a couple hours later I started it again and it seemed the starter was dragging again. I got down and checked it and it was fine. Tried to turn it over again and nothing. Please help, can't afford a real mechanic