Tractor died - now trying to troubleshoot - issue seems to be electrical

[WranglerX]

Slow cranking issues are usually caused by:

Bad Battery
Dirty/corroded terminals on battery cables.
Battery/ground cable with corrosion under insulation (no visible indicators).
Poor/corroded ground cable (from battery) connection at chassis/engine.
Starter solenoid (high amperage contacts) beginning to fail.
Starter beginning to total fail. Bad winding or bearings in starter.

Maybe more but these would be things I would check first....

 

[WM75Guy]

Update mine was a bad battery with a dead short. New battery and I am good to go.

 

[paulfun9]

Sounds to me like a typical bad ground issue.

Locate all the grounds on the tractor, pull those off, clean and reinstall. Don't limit yourself to just make a visual inspection since it can look good but still have a bad connection.

I was shown years ago that sometimes you can use a good set of jumper cables to ground the starter directly to the battery and get home in an emergency
Might be worth a shot and could prove one of the grounds is bad.

Janet

 

[ptsg]

I was shown years ago that sometimes you can use a good set of jumper cables to ground the starter directly to the battery and get home in an emergency
Might be worth a shot and could prove one of the grounds is bad.

Janet

That's indeed a good suggestion that can troubleshoot very easily and quickly if it's a ground issue or not.

 

[paulfun9]

That's indeed a good suggestion that can troubleshoot very easily and quickly if it's a ground issue or not.

My Dad showed me that when I was failing miserably at learning to drive. I stalled the car more times than I can count and it started getting hard to start. He had someone jump start it but it didn’t work and that’s how he got it started.
He drove home with the Jumper cables hooked up as grounds and He never tried teaching me to drive again, said I was just too scared and panicked too easy.
It wasn’t until I met my Husband that I learned to drive.

Janet

 

[hornett22]

I was shown years ago that sometimes you can use a good set of jumper cables to ground the starter directly to the battery and get home in an emergency
Might be worth a shot and could prove one of the grounds is bad.

Janet

Yep, I've used that technique several times on Nissan Titan/Armadas. People didn't believe it was the crappy ground to the valve cover. Jumper from battery to frame,wallah!

 

[stso9d]

I think you have caused a wire to ground out against the frame. I would be very careful trying to start it until you know for sure...

 

[rv7charlie]

To the OP, do you have a volt meter? That's the best way to troubleshoot electrical stuff. Track one down (Harbor Freight usually has one for less than $5) and we can walk you through the troubleshooting process. Not complicated, but you have to be orderly and systematic.

 

[JWR]

Sounds to me like a typical bad ground issue.

Locate all the grounds on the tractor, pull those off, clean and reinstall. Don't limit yourself to just make a visual inspection since it can look good but still have a bad connection.

That and the battery. Get the battery load-tested.

 

[dodge man]

He load tested the battery but I’m not convinced it still couldn’t be the problem.