Old wiring

[john hall]

Take this however you want it, I'm finding that the wiring on the really old Cadets has outlived its usefulness / safety. Thought my 124 was pretty bad, kind of blamed it on a PO. Well it was bad and butchered, the wiring on dad's 100 was just plain dry rotten!

Here is the back story, I had to rebuild his golf cart engine because it was smoking more than a diesel pulling tractor. So while it was down for the rebuild he had to ride his 100 butt buggy around---getting the mail, over to my house, to the farm shop--etc. Well one day it just died in the middle of his driveway. Fortunately my son was home to go tow him in. I checked fuel and fire. Plug was getting wet, but fire was sporadic. Checked voltage to coil, only about 10 volts. So it had to sit a week while I finished up the golf cart.

Pulled in the shop this morning and figured I would start at the switch and work my way toward the plug. I was horrified to find the back half of the hot cable naked--and rubbing the steering column. It's been this way for a while--look at the green corrosion. One of the wires to the key switch actually snapped off after I unhooked it and was wrestling with the rest of the harness. Mice had decided to pee on top of the starter switch housing so much that it ate a hole thru it! Got all that cleaned up, cleaned the ground, reinstalled battery, figured I'd check the voltage to the coil. As soon as I touched with the volt meter the wired end popped off. Wire itself looked pretty good, so just put on a new end. For the heck of it I grabbed the spark tester from our magneto tester--I could maintain over 1/2" spark. Put in a new plug and he's back in business.

My point to this long ramble is this. He has had this mower for close to 30 years, and it has been kept in useable shape practically this entire time. Like it or not, some things wear out with age. If you have some time this winter, take a good like at your wiring harness on your older machines.