Cub Cadet LT1045 Electrical Issues

Santa Craig Cringle · Dec 6, 2015

My Cub Cadet LT1045 decided to quit on me a couple weeks ago. I covered it with a tarp and left it in the yard until I could get time to play with it.

I thought the issue was a bad battery, so in a pinch I swapped it out with another fully charged mower battery I had, albeit rated at only 130 CCA compared to the original battery with 240 CCA. All connections are tight, including the ground wire to the chassis.

After putting on the other battery, I couldn't get the engine to even turn over. The solenoid does seem to be clicking (it's barely audible), although I wonder if it may be intermittently working because sometimes, I get lights when I turn the ignition and sometimes, I don't. And, the solenoid click is so quiet that I can't always be sure I hear it. Currently, the lights don't come on even though the battery is fully charged.

I was able to get the engine to turn over and start when jumping it from the car battery. However, when I would remove the jumper cables, it would die after 20 or 30 seconds. I found out that you need a minimum of 9V to activate the solenoid, so I went back and recharged again and was able to get the mower started and running on a full charge.

Then, when I turned on the (electric) PTO, it died again. I was unable to get it to even turn over without jumping it again.

Is it purely a case of having an undersized battery installed?
I dropped off the original battery at the auto parts store for re-charging and testing. Waiting to hear back. I have my own battery tester but I'm not real confident in it.

davesl708 · Dec 6, 2015

Sounds like a loose ground wire. There may be several ground wires on the tractor. The main battery to frame ground and then some smaller grounds for dash light and other accessories.

Bob_Bainbridge · Dec 6, 2015

You may have a bad battery cable(s). Sometimes they will connect enough to turn on the lights or click the solenoid but when any heavy load, like the starter, is applied the voltage drops. If you have jumper cables try connecting one from the positive battery post to the starter terminal and the other from the negative terminal to the engine frame. That will bypass a possible bad wire from the engine frame to the tractor chassis.

Bob B.

Santa Craig Cringle · Dec 14, 2015

sleuth said:
My Cub Cadet LT1045 decided to quit on me a couple weeks ago. I covered it with a tarp and left it in the yard until I could get time to play with it.

I thought the issue was a bad battery, so in a pinch I swapped it out with another fully charged mower battery I had, albeit rated at only 130 CCA compared to the original battery with 240 CCA. All connections are tight, including the ground wire to the chassis.

After putting on the other battery, I couldn't get the engine to even turn over. The solenoid does seem to be clicking (it's barely audible), although I wonder if it may be intermittently working because sometimes, I get lights when I turn the ignition and sometimes, I don't. And, the solenoid click is so quiet that I can't always be sure I hear it. Currently, the lights don't come on even though the battery is fully charged.

I was able to get the engine to turn over and start when jumping it from the car battery. However, when I would remove the jumper cables, it would die after 20 or 30 seconds. I found out that you need a minimum of 9V to activate the solenoid, so I went back and recharged again and was able to get the mower started and running on a full charge.

Then, when I turned on the (electric) PTO, it died again. I was unable to get it to even turn over without jumping it again.

Is it purely a case of having an undersized battery installed?
I dropped off the original battery at the auto parts store for re-charging and testing. Waiting to hear back. I have my own battery tester but I'm not real confident in it.