Snowblower Irritating behavior

[Redfox2]

Mid winter, in the middle of clearing my road of snow with my JD1023E/snow blower combo, I went to back up, and the engine died. Typically, previously, I'd just raise the blower and back up with no adverse consequences . . . I called the service department at the dealership where I bought this tractor who explained that there is a sensor on the forward end of the PTO shaft that prevented backing up the tractor with the implement in operation. He advised that the engine shutoff could be over-ridden by holding the ' engage ' switch up when in reverse. Yes, that works, but it's a bit of a PITA . . . So my question(s) is ( are ): Was the tractor operating normally before this shutoff condition arose? If the shutoff is a malfunction, how do I repair it? ( I did locate the connector from the wiring harness to the ' sensor ' at the PTO shaft and wiggled it to no avail ) How can I over-ride this nuisance sensor so that I don't have to pull up on the engage switch in order to avoid the engine dying when I go into reverse?

 

[hawkeye08]

It is like my old lawn mower, have to hold a push button down to back up with mower engaged. Real PITA, but been that way for 18 years..

 

[Deere Dude]

You will get used to it eventually. You only need to pull up until you start going in reverse, then you can let go, if its' anything like mine.

 

[Musdalen]

My mower is the same way. Perhaps not really a blue ribbon solution but a block of wood, of just the right thickness works perfectly. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Redfox2]

Thank you all for your replies. It's not quite so lonely out there, knowing that there are fellow sufferers. BUT! Why did this condition only manifest itself after a little over 1 1/2 years of use? This would suggest that there MUST be some way to defeat the feature? Maybe when the weather warms a bit I'll reach under the beast and disconnect the sensor?

 

[Musdalen]

Maybe when the weather warms a bit I'll reach under the beast and disconnect the sensor?

And then it may not work in forward or reverse...

 

[leonz]

If you do not have a momentary contact (yellow switch) push button
on the dash for running in reverse on you mule you just may have a
bad seat switch that needs to be replaced.

I would hold off on doing any battalion aid surgery if any.
I would advise you to invest in a can of contact cleaner
as you may be dealing with fine dust/cobwebs affecting
the switch throw or contact. on my mule the switch on the
LA115 will freeze up and then I cannot back up with the snow
caster running.

 

[CobyRupert]

Maybe when the weather warms a bit I'll reach under the beast and disconnect the sensor?

By disconnecting the switch you are telling the safety circuit to "see" the switch as always open.
What you don't know is does the switch stop the motor when it is open or when close?
The answer to this question determines if disconnecting the switch (always open) or shorting the switch (always closed) gets the effect you want.

Why did it work before: Maybe switch has been misaligned and circuit never detected pto running before?

I've never seen one of these circuits that used a detector on the PTO shaft (seems like the PTO switch would tell the circuit that PTO is on?). I'm used to bypassing another switch on the reverse pedal linkage that tells the circuit the tractor is going in reverse, thus if the circuit never knows you're going in reverse, it doesn't matter what the PTO status is.

Hmm, now that I think about it, having a sensor to detect a rotating shaft may be a tricky way of preventing people from opening or shorting the switch if the circuit is looking for a on/off pulse from the switch detecting instead of a steady-state on/off status.

 

[tomplum]

It probably has a micro switch that the reverse linkage hits. I always felt that Deere could have made a system that you would give the permission for the PTO operation in reverse until the implement is shut off. I saw a lady once that had a clothespin on a rope that she would snap under the switch to allow reverse operation. Clever. Smart- you decide!

 

[Plantation Paul]

No telling why it just started working, sensor stuck maybe? My JD mower was like that. I disconnected the sensor on the transmission. Not sure if that will work, but it did for me.