Bx1860 won't even click when I turn the key

[JWR]

Been my experience that small tractor owners neglect battery connection maintenance and battery life, thinking wrongly that a 5,6 or 7 year old battery is fine when it's shot.

I replace the starting batteries in my large tractors every 3 years as a maintenance item.

Contrary to popular belief, heat is what kills a battery, not cold and vibration as well and tractor starting batteries are subject to both heat and vibration.

Good practice I'm sure. I have a different opinion. I think the life of a lead storage battery is primarily dependent on the number of charge and discharge cycles and secondarily on other things like time, temperatures, vibration, etc. If I don't get 5 years out of a battery (car, truck tractor, whatever) I consider it defective. If the batteries are "the same" it is a statistical thing and of course varies.

 

[casolorz]

First, do the dash lights act normal and light up when you turn the key? Does the glow plug light go on when you turn the key a little further?

The lights were working fine but then as I was messing with the PTO and pedals to see if I could get it to start they stopped working. I also used to hear that clicking sound it does between being on the on position and actually turning on but now there is nothing, no lights, no clicking, nothing. It happened while I was sitting on the tractor. I was literally moving the PTO with the key on ON and it all went silent, dash lights off, etc. Like if a fuse blew out but I did try switching those and didn't help.

 

[casolorz]

I should mention the battery connectors all look clean, wires look good, battery isn't that old and has 12v according to the voltmeter.

 

[casolorz]

Alright so the switch for the pto was stuck. So now I'm back to the clicking on ON but won't even try to turn the engine when trying to turn on. Lights on the dash work again.

 

[JWR]

I had not seen your post # 14 when i started typing this reply. ...

You have at least 2 problems:
1) the more urgent, is why would a stuck PTO interlock switch kill all the lights on the dash? Must be a loose/shorted wire there that needs fixed. then

2) OK, so we are back to [failure to crank issue] what I said in post #9. Quickest/easiest is to hook up a battery charger and see if it cranks for you. If it does, then you know for sure you are not getting "good enough 12v" to the solenoid.

The added relay is the most popular fix for that (but you can go over cleaning and checking the umpteen connections and switches leading to the solenoid trigger as well as heavy gage cable tightening, etc. and get back to usable factory status. )

I won't mention more obscure circumstances with older worn starters unless the battery charger hookup fails to cause it to crank.

 

[casolorz]

2) OK, so we are back to [failure to crank issue] what I said in post #9. Quickest/easiest is to hook up a battery charger and see if it cranks for you. If it does, then you know for sure you are not getting "good enough 12v" to the solenoid.

I hooked it up to my car, still failed to crank, doesn't even attempt to. Lights and clicking still there just fine.

 

[JWR]

Unless the motor was running on your car you still were not adding higher voltage at tractor than 12v. Even then with jumper cable voltage drops and motor running in the car it would be a maybe. That's why I suggested using a battery charger which puts out around 13.8v or so.

Backing up a little: Did you ever say how/when this problem started? Did it happen a few times and after several tries with the key it did turn over -- OR -- was it all rosy until one day all of a sudden it refused to turn over? Was it a sudden first time ever problem?

After hearing answers to those questions one might start thinking a bad solenoid or a stuck starter motor but lets hear the answers first.

 

[casolorz]

The car was running. I don't have a proper battery charger, just one of those lithium ones and did try it but didn't help either.

So I haven't had a need for the tractor in a few months. I tried using it when it was snowing and couldn't get it to start, wouldn't crank then but I figured maybe it was too cold for my battery. So I left it and started trying again last week. So basically worked fine, then sat for a few months, and it stopped working.

 

[Rdrcr]

^^^^
I had a no start issue with my B2601. Turned out to be a wire was loose on one of the safety switches.

Have you checked all the switches and wiring?

Mike

 

[JWR]

The car was running. I don't have a proper battery charger, just one of those lithium ones and did try it but didn't help either.

So I haven't had a need for the tractor in a few months. I tried using it when it was snowing and couldn't get it to start, wouldn't crank then but I figured maybe it was too cold for my battery. So I left it and started trying again last week. So basically worked fine, then sat for a few months, and it stopped working.

OK. Without a meter it will be hard to debug things. One thing you can try (a bit of a long shot, but I have had 2 Kubotas for which this worked) is to get things opened up just enough (may have to pull the side panel on the right side of the engine) and take a rod of some kind, like a socket set extension, reach it down alongside the motor and tap the starter motor with a fairly strong hit. Like a gentle hammer strike to the end of the rod touching the starter. Once in a long while old starter motors will come to life after a jolt. If that doesn't work, you really need a meter to see where the 12V is getting to and NOT getting to during attempted starts.

I'm assuming you have tightened the heavy ground cable connection to the frame, cleaned contacts, wiggled the PTO control, sure you have the FWD/REV control lever in neutral, etc. All the good things the other guys suggested above in earlier posts.