1810 PTO disengaged
 

I have searched and could not find a previous thread on this but I'm sure I have seen one, I mowed for the first time this year with my 1810, mowed for about 2 minutes and the pto disenguaged. re started and ran for a minute then disengaged. Then it would not restart, waited a few minutes then it started again. Long story short it works intermittenly. Anyone know of a particular reason for this? The PO has bypassed the reverse toggle switch that is activated when putting the tractor in reverse, i pulled the conector apart and the mower deck stopped, I am assuming that switch is in line with the PTO but am not sure what other components are. Is there a wireing diagram somewhere? Thanks

Check the bearing and see if it's locking up on the pto.

I would doubt that the bearing is the cause of your problems. That bearing usually seizes up and the pto will not shut off. The seat switch on my 2084 will shut off the pto when I lift my sorry butt off the seat. That switch may be bad.

If it's not electrical check the air gap as per the manual.

The seat switch has never worked, not sure if it is bypassed too, I can get off the tractor and blades have never stopped, that is why i am looking for a wiring diagram. Do you think it might be in the actual switch it's self? I'm not sure what the air gap is, will have to look that up

As the crowd said to the man on the skyscraper, JUMP
 

I know there are a lot of friendly people on this site who will help us all if we need it but I am lazy and I like to give people my lazy man's way of doing things. Anytime I have an electrical device that goes through many safety circuits and relays I say jump it. you can rig up a wire that will fit the PTO connector up in the front and either wire it directly to the battery or put a simple on off switch in line with it and try to see if it will run continuously rigged like that. If it won't then it is in the PTO. If it will then it is in the circuit. It is that simple. Now when you get into the new and modern "Things" where there are tiny circuit boards and diodes and safety computers then being lazy gets hard. The bottom line is that if it runs off of 12 volts and you hook up 12 volts to it and it doesn't run then you know where to start. BTW, the gap is nothing more than a gap between the outer rotating surface and the inner surface. If you take the belt off and can rotate the PTO pulley freely then it is probably ok. If it is so far out that it rotates freely and does not work then it is too far out. I just tightened mine up until it didn't turn freely and then backed it off a little bit at a time until I could spin it freely. Bingo. It's perfect. Good hunting!:beerchug:

That's great advice, thanks. I will try it hooked up directly to the battery with a switch

My 1811 did a similar thing - early last year I had to jump the tractor to start it and the PTO would engage then drop out.

Come to find out the battery had some dead cells so wasnt taking a charge and the amp draw with the PTO was too much and it would drop out. Replaced the battery and all was fine.

I did check the clearance in this process and adjusted slightly but the weak battery was the culprit.

You may be right, I forgot that the same thing happened to my Dad's 1811, but his voltage regulator went bad and was not charging the battery. He would always jump start it with a battery pack and if you mowed for a long time the blades would stop. :bigthink: Thanks for the info

Yep same here with my tiller....Bought a new battery and it never did it again....Was worried I burnt the PTO with heavy tiller duty....

So i mowed again today after charging the battery and the pto quit again right away. I check voltage at high RPM and am getting about 13.5 volts. I then bypassed the seat switch and still no luck, pto would not engage. I then checked continuity on the jumper the PO installed to bypass the reverse switch and that checked good. I then ran a wire directly from the battery to the pto connector and it works perfectly with out ever stopping so i got the lawn finished. That said I'm thinking it is in the pto switch, unless there is some other component i have over looked. i tried to check the pto switch for continuity but not sure what terminal does what, anyone know or have you ever disassembled the pto switch to repair? I really don't want to spend 50 bucks on a new switch if I don't have to. Thanks

There is a relay on the left hand side of the dash tower that might be acting up - I think that it has something to do with the safety interlocks, but I can't recall. Wiring diagram would show it, though. I had to put a new one on mine when I first got it - the PTO would work if you held it in the "start" position, but wouldn't stay engaged once you let it back into the "run" position.