1992 Craftsman Riding Mower Dies When Blades Engaged, Safety Switch Issue

[bertsmobile1]

Your mower should have 4 safety switches
Seat
Parking brake
PTO
Neutral
Two of them are connected to the seat switch
They get wired up so that is there is no one in the seat & the blades get engaged the engine shuts off or if there is no one in the seat & the parking brake is not engaged then engine shuts off.

Then there is a daisy chain that prevents the engine cranking.
This requires the tranny to be in neutral, parking brake engaged & PTO off .
All of the switches are very simple sliding bridge contacts so get dirty & corrode internally .
We even had an electric PTO switch that ended up having ants living in it.

IT is not a good idea to mow with all of the safeties overridden but it is your mower & your family .

 

[Blaine B.]

Well for certain, this 1992 mower only had 3 switches. The one that was lacking was the neutral switch as you say, definitely wasn't there. I'm not sure if any of the switches were corroded internally. I understand what you are saying about the daisy chaining. Like I said, the seat switch was disconnected for over a year and a half without issues. And the clutch/brake switch functioned properly. And the safety switch for blade engagement/PTO functioned properly. But that was the safety switch that was cutting off the mower now when I tried to engage the blades. Unless it was somehow "shorted" internally thinking that my disconnected seat safety switch was giving a false trigger. Last mowing season I didn't have any troubles at all in regards to the safety switches acting out of whack.

But they have all been eliminated and there's nothing to get in my way of mowing now. It is also convenient being able to start the mower without having to press the brake/clutch.

I've been using a piece of bailing wire to keep the handle safeties from tripping on my Toro Personal Pace lawn mowers for decades now. Still being safe. But I can step away from the push mowers without the engine cutting off. Not necessarily safe for everyone but it can't be any more dangerous than using a circular saw. That scares me more in all honesty.

 

[bertsmobile1]

In all honesty I do not believe in much of the supposedly safety features fitted to most devices as they give the operator a false sence of security and allows them to use the gear in brain dissengaged mode .
If we all knew some one missing 1/2 a finger or toe then it would reinforce the idea that mowers, trimmers saws etc are all dangerous devices that need to be treated with respect .
Just about every chain saw that is used by a man that comes in is horribly under cut on the bar by the spikes because the owner was too lazy or stupid to sharpen the chain so they force the dull blade to cut without the slightest thought of what will happen if that chain jumps the bar or breaks and like using a dull knife 1/2 their hand will be eaten up before they can stop pushing down.

 

[Blaine B.]

You're right about this. The reason I initially unplugged the seat switch was because I really didn't like the fact that the mower would shut off when you sat up. I see no reason why it couldn't stay running so as long as the blades were disengaged. But i suppose since there was no neutral switch, this is the way they had to do it as they didn't know if it was left in gear or not.