Apparent dead short in wiring, kills tractor

[Stephen_Byers]

I want to thank you so much for your follow-up!! I had this exact same problem, and thought I'd never find it. The sharp steel corner of the muffler shield wore a very small spot in the headlight wire. I never would have found it had it not been for your post! Savings, at least a couple of hundred bucks with dealer repair with pickup and delivery of my tractor.

An update for those that are interested.
I believe I found the cause of my short problems quite by chance as it turns out. The power wire leading to the head lights had rubbed on the sharp corner the muffler shielding steel. I had the hood up in a shady spot looking for the source of another vibration and noticed a very small arcing between the wire and the shielding.
While did I not realise this earlier you say?? Well the plastic crap head light bulb holders had broken allowing the bulbs to vibrate too much and they were burned out.
Thanks to those that offered opinions. I believe one did say to isolate the lighting system.

 

[hophornbeam]

Hi Stephen,
You are quite welcome. As the original poster, I felt obigated to close the loop. A type of 'play it forward' if you will.