I am writing this post because of a VERY simple no-money fix to a potentially calamitous problem. As I stated in another post, my old jd2305 that I sold to my next-door neighbor had the PTO fail just after he bought it. I felt pretty guilty, thinking that I had sold him a lemon, but the solution was remarkably simple. In this case, the solenoid was simply stuck, having sat over winter with no use. The basic symptom was that after we pulled the dash switch for the PTO to start, the PTO would simply not engage. We checked to make sure that the rear PTO would spin freely when only the mid-PTO was selected and it would. Further, when the rear PTO was selected, the PTO would be solidly in place (could not easily turn with my hand). The tractor ran just fine in all other respects. I called the dealer and they suggested that the clutch or transmission needed to be replaced (dead wrong here), and since the PTO would either be firmly engaged or spin freely as we expected, we tried looking at the electrical side. We did check the fuse box and the fuses were fine. Ultimately, a little checking online suggested the solenoid might be the problem. At first I thought this meant replacing the solenoid, a much better option than the clutch or transmission, and after tinkering around, we found a very simple solution as I will try to detail below.
Firstly you need to find the solenoid. On the 2305 it is located above/behind the right rear tire. There is a little cut-out hole in the frame to allow access.
Next, after confirming that the solenoid had electrical power, we simply took a long screwdriver, placed it up to and touching the rear point of the solenoid and tapped firmly/gently about 3 times. The motion that worked best was when we tapped in line with the solenoid which in this case was forward, in the direction of the tractor. We had previously tried tapping on the rear in a sideways manner and this did not work, nor did simply tapping the frame near the solenoid. A direct tap on the rear in a fore-and-aft movement was enough.
Finally, we started the tractor, pulled the PTO switch and the PTO worked perfectly. We went and hooked up a PTO implement and started it and it worked perfectly fine.
I am writing this up here hoping others can use this extremely simple procedure to avoid a potentially costly and unnecessary repair.
Best of Luck,
SI2305
Former JD2305 owner
Current 2018 JD2038 owner
Jd 2018r, Loader, 6' rotary cutter
Firstly you need to find the solenoid. On the 2305 it is located above/behind the right rear tire. There is a little cut-out hole in the frame to allow access.
Next, after confirming that the solenoid had electrical power, we simply took a long screwdriver, placed it up to and touching the rear point of the solenoid and tapped firmly/gently about 3 times. The motion that worked best was when we tapped in line with the solenoid which in this case was forward, in the direction of the tractor. We had previously tried tapping on the rear in a sideways manner and this did not work, nor did simply tapping the frame near the solenoid. A direct tap on the rear in a fore-and-aft movement was enough.
Finally, we started the tractor, pulled the PTO switch and the PTO worked perfectly. We went and hooked up a PTO implement and started it and it worked perfectly fine.
I am writing this up here hoping others can use this extremely simple procedure to avoid a potentially costly and unnecessary repair.
Best of Luck,
SI2305
Former JD2305 owner
Current 2018 JD2038 owner
Jd 2018r, Loader, 6' rotary cutter