New to me Ferris, with some bad safety switches somewhere.

[ShowroomShine]

Just picked up a Ferris is600 with 86 hrs. Started up and ran fine on the trailer, I go to get it off and it won稚 fire.

I try to jump the seat switch, nothing.

I clean the seat, brake, and steering handle connections and reinstall. Nothing.

I duct tape the brake lever switch down, nothing.

I jump the steering arm switches, finally it starts. I go to drive and mow, soon as I pull pto switch it dies.

I知 not that good with electric, where do I start? The seat switch is just 2 wires, the brake and steering switches are 4 (2yellow, one white, one green). Don稚 know where the pto switch is.

Any help?

 

[Maxify55]

Try this:
You've probably got a blown PTO switch.
Start with the easiest/cheapest fixes first.

Mower PTO switch hot/failing-troubleshoot clutch circuit - YouTube

 

[Texasmark]

I have the Z700 I bought new last year. To start: PTO off, you sitting in the seat, parking brake on, steering handles in the outboard position. Likes full choke (on the 26 hp Vanguard), throttle half or over to start. Easily forgotten but very necessary: Will not start if parking brake is not engaged. That one has been hard for me to remember to do.

Start, give a minute or two to warm up, set throttle to desired position and release brake. Bring handles together and go about your business. Mine is the 61" making for a lot to get moving so the throttle needs to be half or better so that the engine can take the load of the deck engaging.

If you leave the seat with the PTO engaged the engine stops. If you get out of the seat with the engine running and haven't set the parking brake the engine stops (I think I remember that one correctly).

I started running premium fuel in all my machines including this one. Seems to run better.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Those safeties can be a bugger. If it is running but the PTO engaging stops it, then the first one I would check is the seat safety. Trying to engage the PTO while not in the seat kills the engine. One of the first things I did with my IS700 is remove the seat safety and tape the button down so I could get off the mower without it dying. Maybe not a good thing for safety, but I don't want to start and stop my mower everytime I have to get off. Restarting entails setting the parking brake, turning off the PTO, making sure both steering arms are fully extended and setting in the seat. A real pain when all I wanted to do was move a ball or something out of the mower path, a 10 second chore compared to a minute of more of restart, not to mention the wear and tear on the starter, mower belts, PTO clutch and battery.

At least all the safety switches on the Ferris are fairly easy to get to for checking. I have no idea of the cost for new ones but there are only 4 (your PTO safety seems to be working fine)

 

[ddbackhoe]

Just picked up a Ferris is600 with 86 hrs. Started up and ran fine on the trailer, I go to get it off and it won稚 fire.

I try to jump the seat switch, nothing.

I clean the seat, brake, and steering handle connections and reinstall. Nothing.

I duct tape the brake lever switch down, nothing.

I jump the steering arm switches, finally it starts. I go to drive and mow, soon as I pull pto switch it dies.

I知 not that good with electric, where do I start? The seat switch is just 2 wires, the brake and steering switches are 4 (2yellow, one white, one green). Don稚 know where the pto switch is.

Any help?

This sounds very familiar. You're likely to think I'm full of ****, but changing the spark plugs may be the answer. I scratched my head and tore my brothers completely apart to find nothing wrong with the electrical. Shop guy at dealer said "yup, spark plugs are bad"..He was right. Wiring diagram is in back of owners manual, you should be able to get one here Mower Manuals & Parts | Ferris Commercial Mowers