b2400 - main (30 Amp) fuse is blowing

[stayalert]

B2400HST4wd

Was pushing brush piles onto a brush fire and then shut down tractor....when I went to restart - it turned over and then nothing....no dash lights, lights, hazards, etc.....main (30 amp fuse was blown) I didn't have a spare jumped it with a thin wire and everything was instantly normal....Then a few minutes later (I was staying away from the fire (didn't feel like having a dead tractor at the edge of a raging brush pile) the jumper wire started smoking and burnt.

Hard to tell but it seemed like it was related to clucth position (in for starting) and speed selector (N for starting) - I feel like maybe I let the clutch out and changed the speed selector at the same time?

I've had this tractor for years and have never had any trouble like this....The safety switches for Neutral, and for the clutch seem to be fine....

Anyone have any tips on trouble shooting this???? I traced wiring pretty well and see no indication of corrosion, or wear....?????
Rob M

 

[Mendonsy]

My guess would be that something got hot and melted through the insulation on a wire, maybe a hot spark from the fire landed on it. It could be almost anywhere.

 

[stayalert]

Eureka!

I started tracing wires and found a friction point between some wires from the key switch and the parking brake lever (behind the instrument panel). I peeled back the tape and upon closer inspection found that the parking brake lever wore away wire insulation in the area the size of the head of a pin.....I taped it up added some loom/cover, and BOBS YER UNCLE!!!