Cub 2554, blades won't shut off, and are engaged when starting?? Please help.

[Cub Land]

I apologize, I am a new member with a serious problem. Please help! I have a Cub Cadet model 2554, 2005 year. I recently installed a pair of 55 watt halogen lamps on it for night mowing, when my problems seem to have began. I don't know if this is relevant or not. They worked, the lawnmower operated fine, but very shortly afterwards, a small amount of smoke came from the PTO area, then the blades would not engage at first, then they got stuck engaged. Now, when I start it, they are "on"?? I am mechanically capable, but I don't know much about electrical issues, can anyone help? You are much appreciated if you can. Thank you. You can email me direct @ jim.vanwert@shawinc.com, if you have suggestions. Thanks again.

 

[RandyT]

I would say that you have either a wire shorted that is supplying power to the clutch when the key is turned on or the bottom bearing in the clutch seized. May be related to the new headlights that you installed. those two lights are drawing almost 10 amp so it could of overheated a wire and fused it to the wire to the pto.

 

[Cub Land]

Thanks, RandyT! Would it likely hurt anything to continue running it in this state? Prior to this happening, I have had issues with the battery being low. I blew it off, that the battery was old, and just probably needed replaced, but then this happened. A different issue altogether, the steering is really hard to steer in comparison to my 2166 series, shaft driven lawn mower. Do you know anything about this?

 

[Cub Land]

Could you tell me how to check out what you suggest may have happened? I am not very familiar with electrical issues. Where, or how would I start to diagnose?

 

[PhilY]

The headlamps may be too high of a load for the alternator as well. This could be causing the battery potential to appear lower than you would expect. Could be due to an old battery, but most likely the alternator is not recharging the battery fast enough when head lights are on. With the pto stuck in the engaged state, I would say that it could run for a while, but it's going to put a lot of extra strain on the system like the starter motor. I'm not sure if you spliced the wires for the headlamps into any existing wiring or ran a new dedicated line to the batt. I have to guestimates for you about why the pto failed. One, if the wiring for the headlamps was spliced in to the existing wiring, it could have pulled to much juice through that circuit. My money would go on this second guestimate. That the pto is always being supplied with power when it is engaged. If the alternator was not designed to be able to support the extra load of the new headlights, the battery voltage would drop. If the voltage drops, then the current will increase through any and all components in your system. It was just that the pto failed first due to the higher current drain and longest operating time. This extra current due to the low voltage is probably what caused the pto to fail. This is just like when the motor in a fridge dies due to a brown out in your home. Power = Current x Voltage. Any motor/ (coil like in your pto) is going to need a certain amount of power to run. If one dips the other must increase. Hope this helps.

 

[Cub Land]

Do you know of a bigger alternator/generator and rectifier if there is on, that I could add to this 2554 Cub, that would allow the use of the 55 watt haologens?

 

[PhilY]

I'd go to the Cub dealer and see if they can give set you up with one of the alternators from a bigger model.

 

[Cub Land]

Unfortunately, our local dealer is about out of business, being ran on a sketchy service level at best. People working it really don't know much about what they are doing beyond looking up part numbers and quoting a "high" price. : ( , I will try to contact other dealers for help. Thank you.

 

[PhilY]

You could always call Messicks up. They should probably be able to take care of you.

 

[Cub Land]

You could always call Messicks up. They should probably be able to take care of you.

I will try them. I am going to investigate the wiring issue first, and see if there may be other damage that is visible. Thanks, PhilY