Tom G wrote:
"Chieftin" wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a Sear lawn tractor, No. # 917.272751. I cut the grass the other
day and the next day it was dead. You turn the key and there is not a
sound. The battery is fine, I inspected the three safety switches with
an ohm meter and they appear to be ok, I check the fuse and it is good,
I check and there is no voltage going into the starter solenoid when
you turn the key to start, so their lies my problem. I have voltage
from battery to the solenoid but the solenoid has no voltage to engage
the starter. What is wrong?

Had the same problem...drove the tractor around the house,, unloaded some
stuff from the trailer and when I went to start it...dead. Checked
everything..jump started by using screwdriver across solenoid. Thought it
must be starter switch so changed it out. Still no start. Then,
frustrated, I was sitting on the tractor and for some reason, I pushed the
clutch/brake pedal down, turned the key and voila, it started. Two days of
screwing around with it and I had simply forgotten that the Sears, unlike
the Duetch Allis tractor, I also own and had been using more, required that
you depress the brake/clutch pedal. Damn these senior moments.

Tom G

Same here. Equipment has so many safety switches on them that it is
easy to miss on. I was working on mine today to adjust the belts.
Crawled on to start it up and nothing. As step one in the manual says
'be careful not to damage the yellow wire going to the safety
switch..." I figured I had. Inspection showed no damage. A couple
more tries until I noticed that the deck height lever was in the
engaged position. Won't start that way. At least I did discover that
I can leave that 'yellow wire' disconnected so I can now mow in
reverse.

Harry K