1872 PTO Won't Stay Engaged
 

You guys are always helpful and I have a new one for you.

The PTO won't stay engaged when I was mowing the lawn. It's been erratic, but it getting more consistent the last few times. I tried bypassing all of the safety switches (reverse, seat, and the one under the center panel. It was fine in this configuration for some time. Battery is good, turns over fine, engages fine, but just won't stay on. Any ideas?

As a side note, by plan for this winter is put the safety switches back in working order. They were disabled when I got the tractor. I do not feel safe letting anyone other than me running this thing without them.

Thank you!

Well.... the best way to fix anything electrical is to test. For this circuit, a simple test light will work.

Common PTO problems (no particular order):
*Field coil "dying"
*Low battery voltage
*Bad PTO switch
*Faulty fuse holder
*Reverse relay not holding because;
~a safety switch isn't working
~poor ground at the relay
~faulty ign switch
~bad/loose wire

Seen every one of these issues.

Take out a test light, and start testing! If you need a schematic, there is a chassis service manual in the tech section. It has a diagram in it.

Also if, you are flying like a bat out of he!! when mowing, as you grab air while going over bumps, the unloaded seat safety switch will disengage the PTO. Do you have any fuses blowing?

My 1863 was kicking out every 20-30 ft earlier this year. I took the switch out, cleaned all the connectors, sprayed all the female connectors out with WD-40 and cleaned the ground connection on the battery tray and that cured it.
Cannon

That's acts similar to my electric PTO clutch on my 1862 when it's starting to go bad.

I'll take a look at her in a minute and hopefully I give it a try this weekend. We are supposed to be getting about 2 inches of rain tonight.

Thanks for the recommendations.

So I finally tracked it down to the reverse relay. I actually took the relay apart and the points looked a little corroded. I took some fine grit sand paper and cleaned it up and it has been working well.

I looked at buying a new part, but they about $40! I think I am going to find a cheap alternative and re-wire it. Relays are cheap!

Thanks for help!