safety switches...

[BeeferMan]

Nothing like loading on one's own thread, right...

But here's more. I finally actually took the NH out and cut some hay yesterday, tractor ran well (when I could get it started) and I was happy with that part of it. But I again had trouble starting it. something was obviously intermittent in the safety start system - and it was getting way worse. So when I was done, I took it back to the barn and started to check it out. I found that the safety switch on the clutch was on its way out, it was way flaky. I jumpered around that and now it started every time, as it should. But in checking that switch out, I couldn't help but notice what a crappy design the mounting of that switch was. The switch is mounted to so that it opens (disables starting) when the pedal is the totally released position - but it closes (allows starting) with almost no motion of the pedal, i.e. press the pedal down about 1/2 inch and you can start the machine - way, way before the clutch actually releases. So IMO that's not a very effective safety switch, someone could easily start it with the clutch engaged, but think they were safe from that.

So I got to thinking - maybe a good way to put a end to this safety switch madness that litigation seemed to have caused would be to sue them for a poorly designed safety switch? Then they'd be less inclined to install so many of them for fear of being sued! I'm kidding, of course, but one can surely see the ridiculous ends continuing this CYA overreaction could bring us too.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

I have had some luck flushing those switches out with WD-40. Keep squirting it in while cycling the switch will help. I am not a big fan of all of them myself. In defense of some Safety switch talk to the folks missing fingers, hands, arms or their life because of bypassing or a lack of a switch (operator "error")

 

[pat32rf]

Many years ago I bought my first 4x4 with an automatic tranny. One day the kid and I were awaaaay back in the bush and got stuck in a small mud hole in the snow. Shut it off to assess the situation and two hours later found that the safety switch wires on the tranny had been pulled off by a branch...The first of many issues with safety switches

 

[whistlepig]

I disabled a faulty PTO seat safety switch one time by jumping it. This was on a 1,300# riding tractor. My wife was mowing with this tractor on a steep side hill and ran the rear tire over a rock on the high side of the of the hill. This bounced her out of the seat, she slid down the hood, and the tractor and mower ran over her right leg while still running. I seen this happen. The mower blades chewed the bottom of her shoe off and was cutting into her sock when I got there and shut the engine off. Thank goodness she wasn't hurt. I will never disable any safety switch again. I don't feel that the safety switches are put there for me. But they are put there for someone.

 

[The Haymaker]

The seat switch on my 2220 was the first thing to go. PITA!

 

[mjncad]

On my L-130, I won't disable the seat switch as that is a good thing. I was mowing my front ditch and I had the mower slightly angled causing it to want to tip. Add into the mix the slick vinyl seat and I was sliding off the mower. Having the seat switch kill the engine was a good thing.

As I said in a previous post, the RIO switch was bypassed as its a PITA.

 

[FlaDon]

Most of the tractors I've got or ran never have had seat safety switches. If they do, they get kept for use in Ohio where it would be real easy to roll over a bank. Safety switch on a two-wheel tractor is located between the handlebars and called an operator.

 

[aczlan]

We have a Cub Cadet LT1050 that I disabled the engine portion of the operator presence switch, so if you get off the seat with the blades on (even for a second) you have to shut them off and turn them back on. I am comfortable with that, what I didn't like was the engine shutting off when you got off unless you set the parking brake. Just seemed really hard on the engine.

My inlaw's Kubotas all have the switches that Kubota put on them in good working order as if I fall off the tractor while raking (or cutting, or baling) I want the tractor to stop before it feeds me through the implement on the back.


Aaron Z

 

[BeeferMan]

I don't mind some safety switches - I wouldn't want a tractor without a neutral start safety switch. But carried to the extreme, they can cause a tractor become *less* safe.

Example: The TT that prompted my initial rant will continue to emit that annoying beep even after you shut it off if the parking brake is not set and the transmissions aren't in neutral. I like to park my tractors with the transmissions in gear, that prevents them from rolling should the brake fail, and also provides a small amount of protection from someone like a kid getting on and inadvertently starting the tractor. With the TT, due to the excessive design of the safety system, I must leave it parked, in the starting position, with no safety other than a (poorly designed!) parking brake. Sort of a counter-productive safety mechanism in my opinion...

As for seat switches, no easy answer. I've mowed bankings on my lawn tractor with one hand on the key, in case it starts to tip. But I still hate the seat switch. I have considered rewiring the seat switch to a plug with a lanyard (like you'll find in a boat) that would allow "operator presence" protection for those risky areas, but still allow me the choice to run the tractor without having to always be sitting on the seat.

 

[Renze]

Both my Volvo 440 1.9 turbodiesels didnt stop when you turned the iginition key to OFF... I had to stop them with the clutch, 2nd gear and brakes.
replacing the solenoid on the fuel pump didnt help, so i used both of them as is.