I belong to lots of motorcycle, boat & vehicle forums - Love them for learning and getting info - so thought I'd try one for the tractor...
A few years ago I picked up a used Craftsman DYS 4500.
It's the gold 80th anniversary model (917.28738) with 22hp & 42" deck.
It has the automatic (hydrostatic?) tranny with the hand lever for motion control on right rear fender.
I've been battling off & on starting probs with it since I've had it.
I thought I had it narrowed down to this:
When I put it in Neutral it still creeps forward until I jiggle the lever a little and then it finds neutral.
It appeared that when restarting, it sensed that it was in gear and would just click, If I jiggled the handle while cranking it seemed to find neutral and crank over.
Big prob was if it didn't fine neutral quick it would kill battery and need a jump.
Went to use it yesterday and even my little tricks above didn't work.
I've got 12+ volts at battery & at one side of solenoid.
But I only have 4-8 volts at other side of solenoid when starting. Bad solenoid? (I already replaced the soleniod once a couple years ago.) I ordered another solenoid yesterday, so hoping that'll get it cranking again, but still have the neutral problem!
Is there a neutral saftey switch that could be bad? Is there an adjustment to the motion lever that should be done?
Any ideas/comments/suggestions that I could try to look at would be much appreciated! :drink:
A few years ago I picked up a used Craftsman DYS 4500.
It's the gold 80th anniversary model (917.28738) with 22hp & 42" deck.
It has the automatic (hydrostatic?) tranny with the hand lever for motion control on right rear fender.
I've been battling off & on starting probs with it since I've had it.
I thought I had it narrowed down to this:
When I put it in Neutral it still creeps forward until I jiggle the lever a little and then it finds neutral.
It appeared that when restarting, it sensed that it was in gear and would just click, If I jiggled the handle while cranking it seemed to find neutral and crank over.
Big prob was if it didn't fine neutral quick it would kill battery and need a jump.
Went to use it yesterday and even my little tricks above didn't work.
I've got 12+ volts at battery & at one side of solenoid.
But I only have 4-8 volts at other side of solenoid when starting. Bad solenoid? (I already replaced the soleniod once a couple years ago.) I ordered another solenoid yesterday, so hoping that'll get it cranking again, but still have the neutral problem!
Is there a neutral saftey switch that could be bad? Is there an adjustment to the motion lever that should be done?
Any ideas/comments/suggestions that I could try to look at would be much appreciated! :drink: