XT1 CAN mow in reverse without using the Key Safety Switch

[vv0350]

I mow a 2 1/2 acre lot in the country. and just bought a XT1, Lt42. I have to back up maybe 20 times per mowing...

I realized that once the safety switch was activated, you could go ahead an mow forward and reverse without any further switch use...BUT if you hit a bump, and we have many, or got off the mower, it would disconnect nd you had to set it again......

SOOOOO, I looked around and followed a set of wires from the back of the "interlock switch", a plunger switch at the back of the reverse rod located under the seat ...I realized there was a easy disconnect plug up under ant at the back of the battery area...secured very near the back of the mower. I pulled the battery out and reached down....squeezed the center of the clear plastic plug, pulled a little on both ends, and it disconnected....tucked the two halved around the other wiring in the area and used a little black tape to double secure everything...The plastic cooling blades are just a few inches away and you would NOT want to have the plug halves get pulled into those blades....Anyway, I put the battery back in and started it up..NOW, when you start the mower, you can push the forward pedal and go forward, then push the reverse pedal and go backward without moving the key, or pushing any button, or waiting for a little light to go on...

NOTE: I have no little kids anywhere near me when mowing...If I did, I probably would not do this modification...

 

[bertsmobile1]

While the NMIR safety feature is some what of a joke & I for one feel it is totally unnecessary piece of complication that does absolutely nothing to make any one safer.
It is a safety item mandated by law in some states, so it is not prudent to encourage people to defeat it.
I appreciate that you sound like a reasonable person with sufficient understanding of a mowers electronics to do what you have done but broadcasting it encourages others who may not be mechanically compitent as yourself to follow suit.
The danger there is the seat switch , which is the only safety device on a mower which does protect the operator and those near by, is also close to the NMIR switch so you risk causing people to accidentially defeating that.
Most mowers are fitting a much more complicated NMIR switch which can not be defeated because if it is disconnected the mower will not start.
So broadcasting such things just causes NMIR systems to get more complicated.

 

[Scrubcadet10]

While the NMIR safety feature is some what of a joke & I for one feel it is totally unnecessary piece of complication that does absolutely nothing to make any one safer.
It is a safety item mandated by law in some states, so it is not prudent to encourage people to defeat it.
I appreciate that you sound like a reasonable person with sufficient understanding of a mowers electronics to do what you have done but broadcasting it encourages others who may not be mechanically compitent as yourself to follow suit.
The danger there is the seat switch , which is the only safety device on a mower which does protect the operator and those near by, is also close to the NMIR switch so you risk causing people to accidentially defeating that.
Most mowers are fitting a much more complicated NMIR switch which can not be defeated because if it is disconnected the mower will not start.
So broadcasting such things just causes NMIR systems to get more complicated.

And then again, what kind of person mows backwards without looking behind them.... :confused2:

 

[Darryl G]

And then again, what kind of person mows backwards without looking behind them.... :confused2:

I do it about 1,000 times a day...short distances. Looking behind me would be pointless since I can't see anything over my rear bagger anyway.

Edit - photo approximates what I see turning my head as far as I can to try to look behind me... basically nothing.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Why are NMIR switches on lawn tractors and not on homeowner grade ZTR mowers? It would shut the blades off every time you turned a ZTR unless the little light was on.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Why are NMIR switches on lawn tractors and not on homeowner grade ZTR mowers? It would shut the blades off every time you turned a ZTR unless the little light was on.

Because someone who would be mentally challenged managing a bush dunny reversed over something and injured himself or what he ran over.
Then some moron legal whizz managed to convince a third generation apartment dwelling judge who believes in creationism that it was the mower makers fault and not the thing sitting in the drivers seat thus awarding the thing vast amounts of money.
The judgement being made then forces more creationist occcupying space in the OH&S department that things sitting in drivers seats needed protection from this situation that would be totally beyond the ability of a normal person to avoid so made it a manditory safety device.
Other vultures working for the mower makers would have read the judgement in their vultures daily and advised the board of the mower companies that they needed to protect themselves from other vultures.

Because this happened to some one riding on a tractor style mower, it became compulsory for tractor style mowers and not ZTR's or RER's but it will eventually because there is an exisiting ruling there for vultures to use.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

While the NMIR safety feature is some what of a joke & I for one feel it is totally unnecessary piece of complication that does absolutely nothing to make any one safer.
It is a safety item mandated by law in some states, so it is not prudent to encourage people to defeat it.
I appreciate that you sound like a reasonable person with sufficient understanding of a mowers electronics to do what you have done but broadcasting it encourages others who may not be mechanically compitent as yourself to follow suit.
The danger there is the seat switch , which is the only safety device on a mower which does protect the operator and those near by, is also close to the NMIR switch so you risk causing people to accidentially defeating that.
Most mowers are fitting a much more complicated NMIR switch which can not be defeated because if it is disconnected the mower will not start.
So broadcasting such things just causes NMIR systems to get more complicated.

It doesn't matter how complicated, it will get defeated, until such time a mower is run entirely by computer software that is difficult to hack. The way NMIR switches are now, using that little plunger switch pushed by the reverse rod, cutting off that little plunger so the mower "thinks" it's not in reverse will defeat any existing system. Of course for the "seal in relay" types like Cub Cadet uses, simply disconnecting the two wire harness from the plunger switch makes it "think" it's never in reverse. In fact, it can be disconnected on both ends and the little one foot harness entirely removed, and no wires are there to tie up. Of course, I am not advocating this. It's only for informational purposes.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Several mowers now come with control modules that can not be bypassed and expect to see fully computer controlled mowers very soon.
When the next tier of EPA regulations come in there will be no more carburettor controlled engines.
So the fuel injected engines will need an electronic engine management system. The modules will be part of the hour meter and they will of course check that safety switches are all there , & functioning before they will allow the mower to start.
A lot of the skid steers already have them fitted and the same control module will work happily on a lawn mower.
In fact the pin outs behind the hour meters on the skid steers are almost the same as those on come of the high end commercials.
The $ 5.00 on /off switches get replaced with $ 30 piezo electric switches that never read 0 so the control module knows if they have been bypassed.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

Several mowers now come with control modules that can not be bypassed and expect to see fully computer controlled mowers very soon.
When the next tier of EPA regulations come in there will be no more carburettor controlled engines.
So the fuel injected engines will need an electronic engine management system. The modules will be part of the hour meter and they will of course check that safety switches are all there , & functioning before they will allow the mower to start.
A lot of the skid steers already have them fitted and the same control module will work happily on a lawn mower.
In fact the pin outs behind the hour meters on the skid steers are almost the same as those on come of the high end commercials.
The $ 5.00 on /off switches get replaced with $ 30 piezo electric switches that never read 0 so the control module knows if they have been bypassed.

At least some of us are old enough, and there are enough older used mowers out there, that we will never have to deal with what you mentioned.

I have owned mowers since about 1976, and never had one in the shop other than my own. Not going to start that.

 

[bertsmobile1]

At least some of us are old enough, and there are enough older used mowers out there, that we will never have to deal with what you mentioned.

I have owned mowers sinc about 1976, and never had one in the shop other than my own. Not going to start that.

Believe you me I am not looking forward to it either, but it is coming.
We had a friends Skid steer here for ages trying to work out why it would start then shut back down.
IT would start in service mode but shut down the instant it was switched to operate mode.
Ended up being the seat switch which has to be set to the operators weight through a sequence of turning the ignition on & off.
Object was to stop children pinching it .