Hooking Jumper Cables Directly to Starter.

[Jstpssng]

We should all live in a bubble too.

I am not discounting the danger is real. And caution must be taken.

But there are many dangerous things we encounter every day.....

Just had to jump straight to my starter a month or so ago. No other option.
Was in the woods cutting firewood. Was getting too dark to see much......and time to head out and tractor would start. Well crap.

Look around for anything obvious......PTO not on, clutch switch engaging.....HST rocker in the middle....nothing. And I have no intent of hoofing it a mile home in the dark with nothing more than the light on my cell phone.

Now while I didnt jump with jumper cables to the starter.....same principal. Had an adjustable (crescent) wrench in the toolbox. This being a 2012 tractor and had been running most of the day....I was sure the battery wasnt the problem. Rather a stick or something snagged some wires for a safety....and even if I could find the problem....fixing in the woods was unlikely.

So I took the wrench......and the heavy cable that goes from battery to starter is always hot. So when key is cycled it just applys juice to the small solenoid wire. So I turned key to run....and used crescent wrench to bridge between the two. Tractor fired right up and I went home.

No danger because it was a HST tractor.....but you can be dang sure if it was still my old L3400 gear that this happened to....I'd have done the same thing

A woman I knew had a manual shift Ford Ranger with a bad safety switch, so she had to roll start or short across the solenoid every time to start it. After watching her do it one night while in gear (luckily it didn't start) I asked a mechanic who told me a simple fix would be to bypass the switch with a simple blade fuse. When I passed that on to her, instead of thanking me, or at least fixing it she gave me the "sexist male, who thinks that I have to look after her" spiel. I think that really fits with the point which the OP was making.

 

[4570Man]

I had to park my truck on a hill for a while because the glow plugs were messed up and the starter didn’t like the idea of starting without them. I finally fixed it and it starts now. Another time the parking brake broke and a 5 speed with a broken parking brake and a starting issue was kinda a problem. I cut a 2x4 to hold the regular brake pedal down. I fixed that issue pretty quick.

 

[LouNY]

years ago when most tractors where 6 volt parking on a hill was standard procedure, and then the diesels in the 60's and 70's where the same when it was cool out a hill was the easiest starting.

 

[HarryVanderpool]

We should all live in a bubble too.

I am not discounting the danger is real. And caution must be taken.

But there are many dangerous things we encounter every day.....

Just had to jump straight to my starter a month or so ago. No other option.
Was in the woods cutting firewood. Was getting too dark to see much......and time to head out and tractor would start. Well crap.

Look around for anything obvious......PTO not on, clutch switch engaging.....HST rocker in the middle....nothing. And I have no intent of hoofing it a mile home in the dark with nothing more than the light on my cell phone.

Now while I didnt jump with jumper cables to the starter.....same principal. Had an adjustable (crescent) wrench in the toolbox. This being a 2012 tractor and had been running most of the day....I was sure the battery wasnt the problem. Rather a stick or something snagged some wires for a safety....and even if I could find the problem....fixing in the woods was unlikely.

So I took the wrench......and the heavy cable that goes from battery to starter is always hot. So when key is cycled it just applys juice to the small solenoid wire. So I turned key to run....and used crescent wrench to bridge between the two. Tractor fired right up and I went home.

No danger because it was a HST tractor.....but you can be dang sure if it was still my old L3400 gear that this happened to....I'd have done the same thing

I have done the same thing.
The question is; when you read a LONG, LONG, tear-jerkingly long series of posts from someone of obviously low mechanical skills, cluelessly struggling to get his tractor running, will you advise him to jump the starter?

I won't ever advise anyone to take certain risks that I myself might choose.
That is the reason I posted this thread; to get people to evaluate the responsibility of handing this risky advice out on an open forum.
I don't view safety awareness the same as living in a bubble.

 

[jaxs]

To Harry point,it's dangerous at best but people don't always understand exactly where intend them to hook the cable.

Glad to hear that. His was a hard earned lesson.
Not to flog a dead horse; yet in all of the times I hooked up to the starter, it never engaged until I turned the key.

 

[prichard]

I never heard of this til reading this thread. Then last night I was watching "Longmire" and he says "starters not engaging, jump the posts". Starters was engaging, but this girl stands right in front of rear tire and jumps the starter. SMH


Edit: Clarification, I have used a screwdriver on car starters till I bought a remote switch like was mentioned earlier. I'd never heard of jumper cables to starter.

 

[LouNY]

That's because most of the time when people jump it at the starter they are actually jumping at the point where the battery cable attaches to the solenoid,
the other is jumping with the crew driver or remote switch from the battery attachment at the solenoid to the start command terminal on the solenoid, the
final one is to jump directly to the starter after the solenoid which will immediately start the starter cranking if you have heavy enough booster cables,
most cables that you find for under $50 have #10 wire and they tend to get hot and burn out fast, if you are going to jump directly to the starter use
heavy welding lead type jumpers and be ready for one heck of a spark when you make that final connection. And as said previously it's a lot better if your
not standing in front of a tire.