This country girl needs help.

[CurlyJones]

Okay, so my husband is the "farmer/rancher" around here. When he went to Iraq, he taught our teenage daughter to run the Mahindra tractor just to mow our 5 acres. He told her that she had to stay in first gear so she hated mowing 'cause it took tooooooo long!!

One day I decided to get out there and mow. She taught me everything and I went off. However, I said, "forget what he said!" and tried 2nd and then 3rd and even 4th gear but found that 3rd was the best.

I LOVED IT!! I used to think of weedeating as my therapy but after using the tractor, I now have some big time therapy!! It helps to relieve some of the stress in my life as a full-time nursing student, part time employee, raising our teenage daughter including homeschooling, and taking care of everything else while my husband's in Iraq.

So, my first time out, the shear bolt broke on the shredder. Thought I was in big trouble, but I checked it out, researched online, went to tractor supply place and got what I thought would fix it. Went home and after lots of work (why is all that safety stuff so hard to work with???) got the tractor fixed!!!

I went out there this morning because I had to dig a hole to bury our lab puppy. Hit and run accident. After attempting to dig in our extremely drought striken "black gumbo" hard as cement dirt, I thought the tractor might be able to help. But, it won't start.

The battery light comes on and the coil light (glow plug?????) comes on but nothing else happens. Nothing. What could it be? And what the heck is the coil light (glow plug)???? If I had left the lights on (don't remember ever turning them on at all) would that have run the battery down? I thought everything turned off with the key.

Anyway, the puppy's buried but now I want to fix the tractor!!
Thanks for any and all help with this! I'm trying to be a self-sufficient country girl while my husband's out of the country. I'm finding I'm a lot stronger than I ever thought and I'm impressing myself with all the new things I'm learning to do on my own.

[Charlesaf3]

Hi.

Hopefully other people will weigh in. Does your Mahindra have a seat safety switch? That might have come loose. It cuts out the engine when there isn't enough weight on the seat.

I'm guessing your husband wanted you to go slow for the same reason I make my wife go slow - its a lot harder to roll the tractor over. Watch out for hitting bumps/stumps/holes at speed. And if you are on an incline, go slow.

Sorry to hear about your puppy

[backdoor]

Hi, Curly,

Make sure the PTO engagement lever is fully in the "off" position, all gearshift levers are jiggled around in neutral, the clutch is pushed all the way in, and maybe bounce on the seat a time or two to be sure the seat switch is working right (my daughter has to do this on our riding mower when she starts it).

[Charlie175]

PTO safety or check to see that the Hi/Lo is in "N". If not it will not start

[Charlesaf3]

I don't have a mahindra, so don't know for sure, but on one of my kubotas the safety switch moved a bit in the seat, so it wasn't engaged.

But as they say above, make sure everything is in neutral or equivalent - engaged pto which you may have forgotten to shut off when you sheared the bolt may have done it.

Good to keep more than one shear bolt on hand if you didn't already do so btw

[Nissan197]

As others have said make sure the gear selector is in neutral. Have the PTO lever off and wait until the glow plug light goes out before starting. Good luck!!

[Charlesaf3]

oh, glow plug preheats the cylinders so diesel can ignite easier - once the engine is running it provides its own heat. Summer, around 5-10 seconds should do before you start her, I'd guess

[BobG_in_VA]

First, sorry to hear about your pup. I tear up every time I hear of a family losing member. Second, if you get no "click" when you turn the key to "start" then (others have said) make sure everything is in neutral and the PTO is off, push in the clutch (although not necessary). Sounds like a bad ground to me. Check/clean your battery posts and follow the ground wire from the battery to the screw/bolt where it hooks into the frame somewhere...then undo the ground and clean/scrape it. If that doesn't do it call the dealer. Good luck and hope your other half gets back soon/OK. BobG in VA

[n8wrl]

Transmission in Neutral
Clutch is in
PTO is off
Brake is on
Butt in seat

See if that helps.
God bless you, your husband, and your daughter
Sorry too about your puppy

[howierd3866]

just like everyone esle has said..put mostly likely when the bolt broke and u turn the tractor off you didnt think about the pto because the mower wasn't turning...good luck one of these would mostly likely be the help you need