I was at a friends house a few weeks ago helping him change the deck spindle on his Craftsman grass killer. He ask me to look at his late FIL's 108 that hasn't been cranked in a few years. He bought a new battery for it but it still did nothing when the switch was turned. I crossed the solenoid with some pliers and the engine turned over (switch on) but the spark plug did not fire. I downloaded the tech manual for the wiring diagram and found this diagram of the ignition that Roland posted in the Tech section
http://216.157.93.126/forum/showthread.php?t=27 . I think I can figure out the starter problem. Looks like if the starter engages with the solenoid crossed then the problem should be in the switch or one of the 3 safety switches. On the ignition I can run a jumper form battery + to coil + (in Rolands Post) but if it still doesn't have spark is there a simple way to check the points and condenser? This is my first attempt at working on this type ignition, I don't want to fry anything on someones elses tractor.
Cannon