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Spartan keypad issues

#1

J

Jesse18

My parents bought a Spartan zero turn and have had repeated keypads go bad. The one that just went bad only had 35hrs on it and will be the 4th one to go out. My plan is to bypass the whole keypad but I can’t find a wiring diagram anywhere. The mower is about 8hrs away so I’d like to figure out what I need so that I can fix it hopefully for good the next time I go home. Does anyone happen to have a schematic? It is a 17 SRT with the kohler engine.


#2

B

bertsmobile1

have you asked Spartan ?
Most mower companies have wiring diagrams on their web site as a free download due to the restrictive trade case ruling that they can not keep it secret .


#3

J

Jesse18

I looked on there website but have not contacted them


#4

R

RecoilFreak

Jesse18 said:
I looked on there website but have not contacted them
Click to expand...
Good luck with that. Spartan has the worst customer service I have ever run into of any equipment dealer. My keypad has also failed - just out of warranty. $300 for a replacement.


#5

B

Bertrrr

This is the reason I will not get a Spartan , mower looks OK but key pad issues scared me off,
If it was Me, I'd disconnect it all together, buy a regular ignition switch, choke and cable assembly, and blade engagement switch,
you will need to wire it up from there, ( be aware the warranties / safeties ) will not be in service any longer though, I've done this on a few machines for people ++


#6

L

lucky1

RecoilFreak said:
Good luck with that. Spartan has the worst customer service I have ever run into of any equipment dealer. My keypad has also failed - just out of warranty. $300 for a replacement.
Click to expand...


#7

L

lucky1

Repaced 3 already no cost just look on back of key pad contact www.gdimeters.com life time warentie


#8

H

hlw49

Contact Spartan and ask if they make a kit to convert to an ignition switch kit. Dixie Chopper had this problem and made a kit to conver it to key start. Have change a lot of them out.


#9

H

hlw49

Looks like some one could make a kit Where all that was require was to replace the switch. On D/C you have to replace the complete wiring harness.


#10

B

bertsmobile1

They were a good idea, badly done
Mower electronics are not good enough to run these chips reliabily
heat, sunlight, weather, vibrations all kill them
I have done a few AYP conversions back to key
Not all that difficult and AYP gave up on them after 3 years because they were so problematic
They work in cars where the parts are not subject to weather, vibrations & have a much more stable electrical system but not on mowers


#11

H

hlw49

Oh yes have to replace the whole harness because the PTO switch is incoperated into the key pad. Are the other mowers like this? Not fimiliar with the others.


#12

StarHammer88

StarHammer88

Bertrrr said:
This is the reason I will not get a Spartan , mower looks OK but key pad issues scared me off,
If it was Me, I'd disconnect it all together, buy a regular ignition switch, choke and cable assembly, and blade engagement switch,
you will need to wire it up from there, ( be aware the warranties / safeties ) will not be in service any longer though, I've done this on a few machines for people ++
Click to expand...
I've got a 2019 spartan mower that I'm looking at doing this on. What would be the steps that I'd need to take to get this working?


#13

B

Bertrrr

I think I've read on here there are conversion kits to get around this keypad garbage


#14

B

bertsmobile1

When I get a dead keypad mower I just go into Jacks web site and check the wiring diagrams of previous models till I find the latest one with a real key
Not sure if Spartans were ever made with a key but as you should know there are really only 2 basic wiring layouts
1) grounds through the key
2) uses relays to turn the magneto on & off
The rest of the stuff is just the same switches and most will happily interchange
Relay & Module controlled mowers will usually have 2 prong safety switches because the module handles the switching
Manual ( dumb ) systems use 4 prong switches to separate cranking circuit from kill circuits
Not hard to rewire from scratch
Just done a Z-master from scratch as Toro wanted $ 395 for the main harness + $ 125 for the engine harness + extra for the individual switches .
From scratch there was $ 18 worth of plugs & sockets and about $ 50 worth of wire
I did have to reuse the Fuel / Hour meter plug by cutting the wires & joining them as I could not get plug and I could only get the terminals in a 1000 unit roll


#15

J

Jimmy the Lock

lucky1 said:
Repaced 3 already no cost just look on back of key pad contact www.gdimeters.com life time warentie
Click to expand...

Is there a part number or stock number to ask for when contacting GDI ?

Their website does not say anything about keypads for Spartan mowers


#16

G

gary.yarbrough

my spartan RT Pro with kohler kt745 will not crank with both kill wires attached. I can disconnect either one and it cranks and runs great. I can disconnect both and it turms over but does not crank. As soon as I plug the other kill wire it dies. I feel like I have a keypad internal issue as all 4 safety switches test good. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated...


#17

J

Jimmy the Lock

You'll either need to figure out how to bypass the keypad, or buy a new keypad.

The keypads come with a lifetime warranty, so you should be able to get the Spartan dealer to swap it out for free

If I can ever get in touch with these people, I'd like to buy a spare keypad just to have on hand in case mine ever malfunctions... then put the new one on and go get the original one replaced with a new one so I'll have a new one on hand.


#18

J

Jimmy the Lock

Well... I went by my local Spartan dealer where I bought my mower at, and I found out that Spartan is doing away with the electronic keypads.

Here's the replacement part that fit's my particular mower:
https://spartanzeroturnparts.com/spartan-key-switch-kit-for-rz-hd-all-rt-srt-models-w/

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Pic2__JPEG.jpg


#19

Tiger Small Engine

Tiger Small Engine

Jimmy the Lock said:
You'll either need to figure out how to bypass the keypad, or buy a new keypad.

The keypads come with a lifetime warranty, so you should be able to get the Spartan dealer to swap it out for free

If I can ever get in touch with these people, I'd like to buy a spare keypad just to have on hand in case mine ever malfunctions... then put the new one on and go get the original one replaced with a new one so I'll have a new one on hand.
Click to expand...
From what I understand, after 2018, the keypads come with a three year warranty. A lifetime warranty would mean lots of “free” $275 keypads.


#20

J

Jimmy the Lock

Tiger Small Engine said:
From what I understand, after 2018, the keypads come with a three year warranty. A lifetime warranty would mean lots of “free” $275 keypads.
Click to expand...

I had heard if you buy the keypads directly from the company that makes them for Spartan, only those came with a lifetime warranty. If purchased from Spartan, or a dealer selling Spartan parts, they only have a 3 year warranty.

This may explain why the keypad manufacturer never got back to me when I reached out to them to buy one... they probably know their keypads crap out frequently.

Now that I have the manual replacement unit, I'll probably just use it someday if the keypad craps out. I do like the idea of having the 4 digit pass code and it slightly lessens the chance of a family member trying to tun the mower when I'm not around and wrecking it... or trying to get in to mower racing or something funny.gif


#21

Tiger Small Engine

Tiger Small Engine

Jimmy the Lock said:
I had heard if you buy the keypads directly from the company that makes them for Spartan, only those came with a lifetime warranty. If purchased from Spartan, or a dealer selling Spartan parts, they only have a 3 year warranty.

This may explain why the keypad manufacturer never got back to me when I reached out to them to buy one... they probably know their keypads crap out frequently.

Now that I have the manual replacement unit, I'll probably just use it someday if the keypad craps out. I do like the idea of having the 4 digit pass code and it slightly lessens the chance of a family member trying to tun the mower when I'm not around and wrecking it... or trying to get in to mower racing or something View attachment 69435
Click to expand...
Also from what I understand, the key pads have been improved from the earlier ones that would sometimes crap out. The last one I just worked on, the keypad was fine, it was the $400 wiring harness that was the issue. The local Spartan dealer ended up diagnosing and repairing the problem. In my area, I see very few Spartan zero turns.


#22

J

Jimmy the Lock

I only have 12 hours on my mower so far and the key pad has worked flawlessly for the entire 12 hours! thumbsup10.gif


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