Dead spot on starter

tree grower · Dec 29, 2019

Flyerdan gave me the link to a solenoid repair kit, and I relocated the ground strap connection to the main frame. Battery cables appear to be in very good condition, battery is only two yrs old, and installation of the solenoid repair should be very easy. I think my problem is solved. Thanks to all for help and suggestions. Happy new year to all.

jd110 · Dec 29, 2019

I hope you are right, but in my experience the addition of a starter relay as TxJim suggested earlier cures most starting problems on 50 series compacts. Deere offers a relay kit part number RE44536 that works well. It was not designed for these models but is easily adaptable. I comes with a relay and a harness as well as instructions. If you buy just the relay, it is easy to wire it in as well. Most of these starting problems are caused by a voltage drop from resistance in harness, switches and connectors, causing voltage applied to starter solenoid to be too low to reliably engage the starter. The addition of a relay assures that 12 volts is supplied to energize the starter.

tree grower · Jan 2, 2020

This has turned into quite a little project. With the solenoid repair kit on order, I turned my attention to the relay concept, The part recommended by JD110 is too close to $200 w/o being an exact fit, so I Googled 'relay', 'relay wiring', etc. Fortunately there were some very clear schematics. I confess that I have been skeptical about the value of relays, but it couldn't hurt. After ordering what appears to be a simple but correctly functional unit, skeptical me went out to where my won't start 1050 sits (click, click, etc), and jumped the 2 inches from the battery cable on the starter to the 'ignition' wire on the solenoid---what a happy sound ! Ten points and a gold star to JD110. I'll let you all know when my ordeal is over.