grasshopper pto

[banshee.350]

When I was cutting grass I would hear the PTO disengage for a short second then reengage. I thought it was just my imagination but now when I engage the pto the blades start to spin the the mower shuts down. Could this be caused by the deck belt being too loose or maybe the main belt being too loose, or is this problem in the clutch itself. I havn't had the mower that long. It has about 1200 hours according to the meter but who knows if that is really correct. The clutch looks like it may have been replaced in the past. If anybody has any information or help I would surely appreciate it.

 

[wushaw]

Check your battery, check the voltage to the clutch, check the switch wiring. Your PTO should no disengage/re-engage like that.

 

[banshee.350]

Thanks for the response. I will check those things out. I had just recovered my seat and I had to unplug the seat switch and maybe I reversed the wires. I didn't think it would start if I had them backwards. I swapped them back today and mowed and the clutch didn't disengage. I am not sure if this could have had anything to do with this but recovering the seat was the last thing that I had messed with. Once again thanks for the help.

 

[wushaw]

It may have been a bad connection.

 

[hpc]

You didn't mention if it's a front-mount or not. On my front-mount (928) with
the PowerFold deck, the control box has a microswitch undeneath that makes
contact with the shaft of the PowerFold unit. Sometimes the control box would
rise up just a hair and the PTO would disengage the blades - a real PITA as
you'd have to stop and press down on the control unit to depress the microswitch.

Obviously, using some duct-tape would help.

If it's not a mid-mount, I would look at the circuit diagram or follow
the wiring that leads back from the PTO to see if there is a loose connection
and/or faulty microswitch.

Good Luck.

 

[Dargo]

I've probably had about 4000 hours total put on all of the Grasshoppers I've owned and the only thing that has been annoying with safety switches is the power fold switch as was mentioned. I've spent hours with a test meter checking the values at all kinds of different points to see where I was missing voltage. It turned out to be in the power fold. If my blades disengage I have to lean over, flip the toggle switch to raise the deck for a half a second, press down on that box that contains the switch and then press the toggle switch to down while holding the box down until it clicks when it's all the way down. It doesn't do it often, but that was about the last place I thought to look. So far, it's fixed it every time. Good luck.

Oh, I forgot. I did once back into a bunch of brambles while mowing and had my blades disengage once. The vines and brambles pulled the plug out a bit on the engaging clutch that's right on the back of the mower. There is a little plug that has 2 wires (I think) that plugs into the engaging clutch on the back of your unit. You may unplug, clean, and plug that back in.

 

[banshee.350]

It is a mid mount 321D mower. The PTO quit completely today. When I started looking around at the PTO plug on the clutch the top wire terminal seems to have broken off from the plug on the clutch itself. Is the connection on the clutch replacable(is it possible to soder the connection back on) or do I have to buy a whole new clutch? The plug connection looks like it may have been modified in the past. It has 2 wires running to it with electrical connectors. If any of you guys are looking for grasshopper parts mowpart.com seems to have the best prices!

 

[wushaw]

I would try to soldier it, a clutch is not cheap. Atleast the clutch is real easy to access and to replace if you have to.
Since this is a used machine If you have to order a new clutch you might as well order some steering control rod ends (rod from wheel motor to handle), they are only a few buck each, I had one (r/h fwd) wear out after a little over 100hrs and when it's bad your done till you replace it and hope it doesn't fall off when the motor is running cause it can fall right into a wheel motor fan and then it's a rod end and fan.
I was lucky, I jumped on the mower grabbed the handles and the right one just fell foward, I ordered all four.