Mower deck PTO QUESTION GRASSHOPPER MOWER

[gsim]

RECENTLY BOUGHT 2013 GRASSHOPPER 930D2. Dies when I engage blades. Have noticed when under it putting new belts on PTO that i can hand-turn the drive shaft to deck, and it turns smoothly and then stops, reverse direction ditto. No metallic noise, just stops. Thought odd, but figured when running would work ok. I saw the mower mowing before I bought it. All fuses good.

Can deck blades be turned freely by hand when power off as long as deck not raised very high?

Does PTO clutch allow deck drive shaft to turn freely with power off, like just grabbing drive shaft and turning it? Another comml mower I have, A Toro, can do that as long as PTO not engaged.

 

[bertsmobile1]

:welcome:

First, unless you have a vision problem please refrain from making the text BOLD & LARGE.
Next no.
You should not be able to turn the pulley with the power off, the pulley stops dead to act as a blade brake.
Without the belt on the blades should be able to turn the blades freely & easily.
With the belt on you should be able to turn the blades only till the belt goes tight then the clutch brake prevents further turning , unless the belt is slipping.
If you mower turns off the instant the blades are turned on then good chance the seat switch could be faulty or the wiring to the seat switch.
Start the mower and lift your bum off the sat.
If the engine stops then you have a safety switch problem.

 

[gsim]

Thanks for the timely response, Bertsmobile.

Yes, I do have a vision problem, called 'macular degeneration'. And that was my first ever post on this forum using this provided format. I was still shocked at the final type size myself and will adjust accordingly.

It was deck being tilted that caused me not to be able to turn blades from beneath. Just recalled that yesterday while working on deck.

With deck down, blades do turn freely now and I can feel the drag of the shaft turning as I move the new blades I installed. So my 'brake' must not work because I have new PTO belts. But I'll get my lovely wife to watch the PTO and see if the belts are slipping as I move the blades today.

Engine WILL NOT quit when I get out of seat with PTO 'OFF' and control levers out, whether brake set or not. Engine WILL QUIT if PTO is on and I get 'my bum' out of seat. So the deadman switch appears to work.

Factory owner's manual just arrived in yesterday's mail and I'll be into that later today, after I drain radiator/block and do a flush/refill of coolant and the above mentioned inspection for belt slippage.

 

[trpshoot]

Thanks for the timely response, Bertsmobile.

Yes, I do have a vision problem, called 'macular degeneration'. And that was my first ever post on this forum using this provided format. I was still shocked at the final type size myself and will adjust accordingly.

It was deck being tilted that caused me not to be able to turn blades from beneath. Just recalled that yesterday while working on deck.

With deck down, blades do turn freely now and I can feel the drag of the shaft turning as I move the new blades I installed. So my 'brake' must not work because I have new PTO belts. But I'll get my lovely wife to watch the PTO and see if the belts are slipping as I move the blades today.

Engine WILL NOT quit when I get out of seat with PTO 'OFF' and control levers out, whether brake set or not. Engine WILL QUIT if PTO is on and I get 'my bum' out of seat. So the deadman switch appears to work.

Factory owner's manual just arrived in yesterday's mail and I'll be into that later today, after I drain radiator/block and do a flush/refill of coolant and the above mentioned inspection for belt slippage.

Sorry for your vision issues, my mother is dealing with this debilitating disease and it sucks. Hell I have reading glasses and notice the default font on this website is small. For fun, I cut and pasted this entire paragraph into a blank Word document and see that in Microsoft Word it is Calibri with 12 size font. This web forum is not 12 size font, closer to 10 or 9 size font in Microsoft Word format. The font is definitely smaller than the other forums that i am a member of...

So feel free to type in any size font you want, it is not like you were YELLING at someone.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Sorry for your vision issues, my mother is dealing with this debilitating disease and it sucks. Hell I have reading glasses and notice the default font on this website is small. For fun, I cut and pasted this entire paragraph into a blank Word document and see that in Microsoft Word it is Calibri with 12 size font. This web forum is not 12 size font, closer to 10 or 9 size font in Microsoft Word format. The font is definitely smaller than the other forums that i am a member of...

So feel free to type in any size font you want, it is not like you were YELLING at someone.

If your mother has problems reading on the web all you need to do is change the screen resolution.
Dropping the resolution 1 or 2 settings enlarges what you see but does not become a problem for others
None of us is getting younger and none of us have improving eyesight, particularly for close vision as the eyeballs get stiffer so can not change shape to focus on near objects.
After that there are a lot of stand alone programmes that increase the screen magnification to make life for people with failing eyesight.
Some will even change colours slightly to give better contrast thus making the screen easier to read.
Changing the background colour to pale yellow makes a massive difference.

 

[jerryshenk]

This might be over simplification - is the brake on? If I engage the PTO with the brake on, it shuts off.

 

[artichoke]

I have cataracts, don't know if that produces similar symptoms, but here's what I do.

On a Windows keyboard, first engage the "magnifier". Hit the Windows key, and the + key. Type size should get larger. To get it back to normal size you can type Windows and - .

But the real trick is that once you've done that, you now have access to the color inverter. It only works once you've started the magnifier as above.

Hit Ctrl, Alt, and I all at once. The colors should reverse, and what was a white background should turn black. Things get more readable for me that way. Ctrl-Alt-I again will revert to original colors.