I'll go ahead and share what happened, just so the next guy can say to himself, "Well, at least I didn't do that!"
I use the tractor on our small ranch about 10 miles outside of town. I decided to load it onto my flatbed trailer and haul it to town to have somebody look at it. Of course, loading a tractor that won't start is no simple task. I backed my trailer up to the tractor (which had the loader buck on the ground, of course) and using a combination of chains and a come along I started cranking it on. Being alone, I had difficulty steering and pulling at the same time. So, naturally the bucket is just enough of center to hit the rails of the trailer.
By this time I'm tired and hungry and it's getting dark. I message my family to say if anyone is coming up to the ranch, to please bring me food and a drink. My dear wife, whose love for me far exceeds her confidence, asks my neighbor to take me a sandwich and see if he can help. By then I had decided to wait until morning when I had some light, and perhaps a clearer head. Despite my pleas that he not come, he arrived a half hour later and we went to work. After at least a couple hours of cranking, resetting the come along, cranking, resetting, oh! is the brake still on?, cranking, etc., etc. we got the tractor loaded and headed to town. This morning, before hauling it 35 miles to the nearest John Deere shop, I decide to take one more look at the fuses. Especially that one that was to dirty to see the fuse element. Duh. That "dirty" spot was where the housing was charred. Popped in a new fuse and, or course, she fired right up.
So . . . if you ever see me giving advice on this forum, be sure to consider the source.
