Well, got home from work and headed out to the shed. Took my meter and a diagram I had drawn based on a test described in another thread here on MTF. Checked the resistance between the 2 small posts and it was right on the money. Then checked the plug sockets. No reading. I figured that was too good to be true so I checked it a couple more times with no reading. Well, according to all that I've read on here that is a good indication that I'd located the issue. Grabbed the old coil and headed off to the local JD dealer. Fellow there helped me out by writing down the part number as they didn't have one in stock. Said to call them back if i wanted it ordered or try a couple other dealers in the area. Well, I felt like I was on a mission so I got ahold of another dealer and he had a couple on the shelf. Linda L and I headed off to purchase one of them.
After writing a check for about $126.00, we headed home. I was pretty nervous about what was going to take place. Just my luck, I figured, that more than 1 thing was at fault or else I had not tested the old coil right. You know that haunting feeling like a simple fix is just too good to be true.
Got home, opened the box, and glanced over the 6 ( ! ) pages of instructions. Looked right so far. Could not quite understand some of the instructions. Said I was to drill a 3rd mounting hole in the shroud for attaching the coil, but be careful so as to not drill into the cooling fins. I could reach under the shroud and right there were the fins. No way was I going to be able to drill a new hole and install a self-tapping screw without getting into the fins. I elected to NOT attach the new coil with 3 screws, instead use 2. Then, it explained attaching the + wires to a small jumper and attaching that to the coil. Found that confusing as I saw no reason not to attach the wires directly to the new coil. I figured it only needed the 3-4 inch jumper in the event the originals would not reach the post.
Got it all installed, attached the plug wires, and decided to turn the engine over with a spark tester attached, just to give myself that warm, fuzzy feeling. Got ahold of the key and shaded the tester from the sunshine to I could verify I had spark. Gave it a quick turn and before I could see any spark the engine jumped to life! Success!
Went ahead and buttoned it up, then started it again and let it run to charge the battery a bit. Seemed to run fine. Went ahead and picked up my tools, meter, gloves, extra pieces and parts, etc., while the tractor hummed away. Went ahead and backed it up into its spot, shut it down, and grabbed my stuff and headed to the house. Another job well done!
Now, anxiously awaiting our next mow to get a bit of seat time. And a word of advice. Be very careful about leaving your key in the "ON" position or catching it with your pants leg and inadvertently switching it to "ON", cuz it can burn out a coil and them ain't cheap!
Thanks for the help that came along in this thread and for the help I harvested from previous threads regarding this same situation.
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