Well, the switch base itself is grounded to the tang. If it were touching metal it wouldn't need the wire. Honestly, now that you say that, I remember that it is bolted to the plastic part.

There has to be a Green Wire to the Ignition Switch ground terminal from chassis ground (or battery negative terminal) for the switch to work correctly. The PTO and the lights have their own ground connections.

I'm going to suggest not to put it directly to the battery. Here's why. That wire is a direct short for the mag to discharge the spark. I know that the frame is basically a direct ground, but if something went wrong, it could put quite a bit of voltage directly to the battery. It's kind of like, not using the negative post of a battery to ground a spark plug for testing. It's just not safe.

:Huh::HeadScratch:

IF - the electrical system is properly fused, one would not have to worry about "high amperage".

1641 wiring diagram. If you need a larger version of this PM me your e-mail address and I'll send it to you.

Thanks guys. Sorry, I've been away for work. I'm really miffed by the whole thing. As it stands now, every thing works, pto, lights, starter etc. but the ignition switch is not grounded in any way. Im not frying anything either? I'm wondering if something is shorted to ground somewhere. Remember in the beginning, I said I only fried the ground wire when the starter was engaged. Any ideas?

The discharge from the magneto isn't fused. Neither is the ground. A magneto puts out a high amount of voltage (on these magneto's probably somewhere in the 30,000 volt range) but a relatively low amperage. I think it's safer to keep that as far from the battery as possible. Probably would never have any issues..... just my opinion.


Yes, a short. You'll have to search for it. Shorts can occur anywhere. We would have no way of knowing where to look. If it were here at my shop, I'd start looking in the starting circuit, specifically the key switch, as it only cooked the wire while starting.