I have a cub cadet xt2 that will not start. Battery is fully charged and full gas tank and every-time I try to start with the key all I get is clicks. However I was able to start the engine by directly jumping the starter. After I had the engine running for a little bit I tried to go ahead and mow, but when I pressed the reverse pedal nothing happened. I tried the forward pedal and it made a high pitch straining noise "like you hear sometime when making a sharp tun or going up a hill" and it moved just a couple inches before stopping. The parking brake was off and the transmission disengage/engage lever on the back was all the way in, like it is supposed to be to drive the mower. Has anyone ever had any problems like this? I think it might be some bad safety switch that will not let the transmission engage? The mower is only about 3 years old with 50 hours on it. I would be surprised if the transmission already went bad. Anybody have an idea of whats wrong?
As for your issue with it not starting, it is possible to have a bad battery even though it is fully charged. You would have to take the battery to an auto parts store and have them load test it to determine whether or not it is good. As for the safety switches, I believe that if in fact one was bad and therefore not allowing the start to occur, you would not get the clicking sound, but I could be wrong. If it is under 3 years old and not over 3 years old it might still be under warranty. Your first step should be to establish if it is in warranty and covered. If not, you can check each safety switch by jumping (temporarily) to see if it starts. As for the mower not moving, you will have to check your drive belt to make sure that it is properly routed under the frame and being held tight by the tensioner with the brake off.
The battery hasn't been load tested but I was able to start the mower by hooking jumper cables straight from the positive post on the battery on the mower to the starter. So it had enough juice to do that. Also when I tried jumping it using a car battery, because I thought mower battery was dead, it would not start. Just clicking. Also its over 3 years old but not by much so warranty is expired.