hi all, its me again. my 917.255970 is giving me problems again.i was at the end of mowing when i noticed no grass coming out the chute. i engaged/disengaged the switch.there was no change to the mower.i shut it off and tried to figure out what i was looking at underneath.from what ive been able to determine, i didnt find any broken belts or something stuck. it sat for at least an hour. i read some of what i was able to. i decided to try again. it worked!! for about a minute. it stopped again. i know i have a problem with something draining the battery. is that part of the problem? im also having that checked.so i got on the internet to see what i could find. most responses were about checking the electrical. i have to wait for someone to come over and check that for me. so is there any ideas i can pass along to the 'fixer'? i so appreciate the help from everyone......debbie
attachment clutch
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if the battery is running down when teh engine is running you won't have enough voltage to engage the PTO. when you let it sit for a little bit, the battery builds a surface charge and thus the voltage comes up high enough for the PTO to work, but the surface charge bleeds down quickly and the PTO disengages again.
you need to fix the charge system and maybe replace the battery, if it has been run down to much too many times it will be shot.
you need to fix the charge system and maybe replace the battery, if it has been run down to much too many times it will be shot.
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37 Posts
Another thing that it could be is that the electromagnetic clutch is going bad, i have a John Deere 130 that has sort of the same problem. When i first star mowing the clutch will engage just fine but if i turn it off and then try to re engage it within a short amount of time it will not turn back on. If i keep on flipping the switch it will eventually but only half of the metal clutch disk will engage causing it to come undone and shut off the blades when mowing tall grass. I have to manually turn on the clutch and squeeze the plates together with a pair of pliers to get the disks to fully engage. or if i wait about 15 minutes after turning it off it goes back to working just fine. This can be a big problem when i am running my small lawn care business and a customer comes out wanting to talk and i have to shut off my mower. But oh well im looking in to getting a new mower so this problem will have to be handed over to the next owner. Its probably just your battery like he said but i just thought i would throw this out there. Good Luck! :goodl:
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4,507 Posts
Have someone check the battery voltage when that occurs. You could get a voltmeter (they're not very expensive), and do it yourself. I would think that if the battery was too weak to engage the PTO, it wouldn't have enough juice to start the engine. The PTO draws only about 3 amps, the starter draws around 80 amps. When the machine is running, the alternator should provide all your electrical power, and unless the battery shorts internally, it doesn't do much.
It is possible that the PTO needs its clearance adjusted, if that's possible on your machine. Your manual should tell you if, and how.
You may have a loose wire going to the PTO, or perhaps the PTO windings are failing.
So, to recap my suggestions:
1) check battery voltage when problem occurs
2) check PTO gap
3) check for defective wiring and/or switch
:goodl:
It is possible that the PTO needs its clearance adjusted, if that's possible on your machine. Your manual should tell you if, and how.
You may have a loose wire going to the PTO, or perhaps the PTO windings are failing.
So, to recap my suggestions:
1) check battery voltage when problem occurs
2) check PTO gap
3) check for defective wiring and/or switch
:goodl:
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665 Posts
Chowceal your PTO clutch is wearing and is causing the problem. The clutch will operate as it should from a cold start. As you mow,the clutch heats up and also requires more battery energy to hold the two halves of the clutch together at the required gap. This causes even more drain on the battery and the alternator cannot provide enough "juice" to the battery to keep up,therefore the "drain" on the battery.
If your PTO clutch has three bolts inside springs holding the two halves of the clutch together you are in luck and will be able to adjust the clutch. If not,you will need to replace the clutch. If I remember correctly(someone correct me if I'm wrong please!) the gap between the two clutch plates should be around 12 thousandths of an inch.
This is a much easier problem to deal with than a charging problem IMHO.
Larry
If your PTO clutch has three bolts inside springs holding the two halves of the clutch together you are in luck and will be able to adjust the clutch. If not,you will need to replace the clutch. If I remember correctly(someone correct me if I'm wrong please!) the gap between the two clutch plates should be around 12 thousandths of an inch.
This is a much easier problem to deal with than a charging problem IMHO.
Larry
clean the top of the battery with water and baking soda.
clean any/all connections. get rid of all dust and clippings near wires/connections. wait for your bil.
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