Ford: truck wont start, battery cables, starter battery

Question
I have a 89 f150 and ive replaced the starter,battery,cables.selanoid,fuseable link and i dont even get a click when trying to start.
There is a box located in front of the master cylinder that has relays? for trailer tow fuel pump and eec power that does make a noise when turning the key.
This is the big 6 cylinder with 5 speed transmission.
when this problem started the battery cables got so hot they almost melted. apparently im no good at electronics. Please help so I can go to the dump and get my wife off my back!
Thank you very much
Mike

Answer
Mike what i would do is ck to see if you have a good ground the way to do this is place your test light on the pos. side of the battery and touch the eng. with the other end it should light up if it does then have someone crank it to see if it still stays lit if so then go back to the battery you should have a pigtail comming off the neg.side of the battery which should have eather 1 or 2 grounds that go to the comp.unplug this conector and ck if it is correded if so jump it and try to start it. good luck   let me know.