[whitetail]

I have a diesel JD 455 lawn mower with a 60" deck. After about 10 minutes of mowing the deck shuts down. I can restart it and as soon as I let go of the switch, it kicks off again. If I hold up on the switch, in the bypass position, the deck stays running. I have replaced the switch and the solinoid that operates the PTO. Any ideas?

 

[Mark / Ohio]

....If I hold up on the switch, in the bypass position, the deck stays running. I have replaced the switch and the solenoid that operates the PTO. Any ideas?

Is the bypass position used when mowing in reverse? If so maybe the problem is in that switch (that detects when the tractor is in reverse) or the wiring to it.

 

[whitetail]

Well, I think that you were right on the money. Some dimwit (namely me) tried to bypass the reverse kickout switch. I did not want to cut the wires and splice them until I was more familiar with the mower. It was my father-in-law's mower. I unscrewed the switch from the frame, ran 15 to 20 rounds of electrical tape around the switch to hold the button in and then taped it up out of the way. I guess the tape would constrict and hold the button in until it the vibration and warmth allowed it to relax just enough to allow the button to disengage the deck. If we let it sit a day, it would mow again until the cycle started all over. I put it back on the frame tonight and mowed for an hour tonight (until I could see my breath - 35 degrees heading down) The next step is to actually splice the wires together 'properly', with our lawn and landscaping the kickout on reverse is obnoxious.

Thanks for the help!!!

 

[Mark / Ohio]

Good to hear you have it all sorted out and your welcome!

I should also add a note here in case anyone comes along wanting to know the specifics of what you done.....

We avoid the "bypassing of safetys discussion" for legal liability reasons here. Thus rule number 5 posted in the House Rules section of the forum.

5. No Illegal Suggestions Please no pointers, how-to's, advocating, etc of any illegal activity. (example: By-passing Safety Switches)

http://www.mylawnmowerforum.com/forum/57-rules-forum/422-basic-house-rules.html

I do however understand your frustration with it. I would spend a lot of time pushing that bypass button on my yard as well.