2160 Cub - Blades Stopped Mid Mow - Bad seat interlock?

[Altair 4]

History - 2000 Series, early 2160 Model with 48 inch deck, 23 hours on new engine and PTO. 363 hours on tractor. Recent work - Mower Deck Idler pulley and arm replaced a couple of engine hours ago. Reverse cutout switch replaced five hours ago. PTO switch replaced five hours ago.

Symptoms - About 40 minutes into a mow, I leaned over to avoid a branch and the mower blades disengaged. Both PTO and deck belts are intact. Tried putting it in reverse and then forward - no change. Tried shutting down and restarting - no change. Interestingly, the engine doesn't shut off now when I get off the seat, despite the PTO switch being pulled out, and the brake off.


I'm thinking bad seat interlock switch. Before I order the part, and other suggestions?

-Edit-
Clarification: I could not get the PTO to engage again.

 

[Altair 4]

I had a little time to look at this last night. Didn't have a volt meter with me, though.

The PTO will not engage. Engine does not shut off when I get off the seat, even though the mower is in gear and the parking brake is off. The engine speed does dip a bit when I get off the seat, though. Very weird.

Any suggestions?

 

[Altair 4]

Turns out that it wasn't the seat switch.

The connector between the wiring harness and the PTO has melted a bit, allowing the one terminal to intermittently make contact. Don't know why it melted and deformed a bit, but I'll work around this.