pto issue?

   / pto issue? #1  

billdad

New member
Joined
May 23, 2016
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1
Location
Coral
Tractor
cub cadet 1554gt
I have a cub cadet 1554gt. I was mowing, turned on the pto and 15 seconds in mower quits. Did some checking and replaced the 20 amp fuse. Started mower and it did the same thing. Checked the pto switch and was bad. Replaced and it did the same thing, 15 seconds in and it quit. PTO has quite a gap between the plates, about .o30. Plates will come together when I run a jump wire from the positive post on the battery but might this be too much of a gap? Also I dont see any adjustment on the PTO. Connections are all clean and battery is strong. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
   / pto issue? #2  
I have a 26hp Kohler in my craftsman lawn tractor and it would run fine until the pto was engaged, then it would stall. It ended up being a bad ignition module.
 
   / pto issue? #3  
I have a cub cadet 1554gt. I was mowing, turned on the pto and 15 seconds in mower quits. Did some checking and replaced the 20 amp fuse. Started mower and it did the same thing. Checked the pto switch and was bad. Replaced and it did the same thing, 15 seconds in and it quit. PTO has quite a gap between the plates, about .o30. Plates will come together when I run a jump wire from the positive post on the battery but might this be too much of a gap? Also I dont see any adjustment on the PTO. Connections are all clean and battery is strong. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
if that 20 amp fuse blew again, you have an intermittant short in that circuit. Good chance you will find a chafed wire or such. your PTO when engaged should only pull around 4 amps - s/b no prob for that fuse size. but if you have the equipt, do chk the PTO current draw and/or resistance.
you can chk into the PTO gap thing but most later cubs were equipped with non-adjustable types. You will most likely have an Oguru or Warner clutch if you stuck with OEM.
 
   / pto issue? #4  
Things like ignition coils, solenoid coils, etc, are almost always wound with solid (single strand) wire (called magnet wire) - the only insulation is usually varnish, so more turns of wire (more magnetic effect) can be put on the same size spool.

Because the internal wire is only one strand (unlike the more flexible, stranded hook-up wire used everywhere else) if that strand breaks, you're DONE.

The frustrating part - often you will get a single break INSIDE a sealed coil unit (like your PTO clutch solenoid) - when the coil is COLD, the two (broken) ends still touch, and the clutch will work. Warm it up by running current through it and it expands, causing the broken halves to separate - it'll shut off. Cool it down a while, things contract, it works again.

Repeat til insanity sets in :confused:

If it's possible to QUICKLY get at the connections to your clutch coil, (usually they will have push-on spade connectors) first check continuity of the coil by removing one lead and measuring across the coil with an ohm meter - should read less than 20 ohms or so - then hook it back up, start the machine, engage PTO, let it run til it stops the blade, then -

Shut off the motor and QUICKLY pull the same wire off (so you're NOT reading other things in the circuit) and check resistance across the coil - should be OPEN (infinite) - keep watching the meter til the coil cools - if I'm right, your reading should return to what you got before starting the mower.

If you're lucky, all that's left is to get the part# and order a new coil... Steve
 
 
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