john deere 225 Gt tractor

[Sleepy owl]

Hi, I have a John Deere 225 lawn & garden tractor (GT) with a Kohler engine and have approx. 100 hours. I have not used it for a few weeks and went to start it. The tractor started with the brake/clutch pedal pushed down. This tractor is hydrostatic. When I released the brake, it stopped. I bent a peice of wire in a loop and undid the brake switch. The tractor ran but when I engaged the mower deck, it stopped. The next thing I did was plug in the brake safety switch and used the loop peice of wire under the seat on the safety switch. We have had bitterly cold weather, i found out this was the cause. Remove the jumper wire and Push down on the seat hard a bunch of times and sprayed it with lubricant. Works fine now. Just thought this might be helpful to someone. Sleepy owl