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420 Starter Problems

801 Views 8 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  powderburn, 
lgates110
Had to replace the starter on my 83-420 AGAIN today. The original didn't sound very good when I bought it last fall, so I ordered an aftermarket. Put it on when the original quit in Nov. The new one broke the mounting (on the end of the starter) out at the top bolt hole. It was warrantied & replaced. Now that one broke in the same place. On this one, the top bolt that holds the starter together was loose, leading me to think that let it give enough to put the starter in a bind, causing the break. Has anybody else had problems with these?
~~ Lowell
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A
A discussion of similar problems on '83-318 starters can be found on this post:

http://www.wfmachines.com/discus/messages/17/424845.html

It may be that inconsistent quality control in the manufacture of some of these aftermarket starters underlies alot of these starter problems.
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lgates110
Had the 3rd new starter quit on me today! Had it at a show, getting ready to go line up for the parade. Starter just ground, so I'm sure the mount is broken again!

Just going to break down & take it to the dealer Monday & pay the price. Really didn't want to pay the price for a JD starter, but something isn't lining up & I think it's the Chinese aftermarket workmanship.

OH WELL!!! ~~ Lowell
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A
I'd be willing to bet it is one of the mounting tabs on the engine that is causing your problems. They are well known for this. About the only way around it is to put some shims in to keep things lined up right. It will be a temporary fix no matter how you look at it.
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lgates110
OK, now it's nearly $1800 later & I still have the same old ONAN, oops!!! Took it to the dealer after the last break; new starter $420, new flywheel (last one in the JD system) $655 + shipping, $670 labor, and misc. parts. They told me the pan where the starter bolts on was uneven, so they took it to a machine shop to true it up. At least it sounds better than it ever has since I bought it last Fall!

Where I goofed was, I could have bought a new 20 HP Kohler Command to fit for about the same money + $300-400 in extra kits! But I didn't think of that until after I told them to fix it!

They did allow me $150 for the two 3/4" scratches they made on the hood, at least on paper. ~~ Lowell
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P
My 2001 JD 445 mower PTO shuts off for no reason while I am mowing. It will happen 4-5 times during approximately 1.5 hours of mowing time. The mower PTO will turn right back on as soon as I push down and pull back up on the PTO dash switch. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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K
The two things that come to mind first are:
Brake switch and seat switch. If either of these are triggered (or faulty) they will disengage the PTO.

Not sure on the 425, but 455s also have a temperature switch that stops the PTO is the engine gets too hot.
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J
Mark-

Sometimes , a certain weight shift while mowing will cause the mower pto to shut down due to the seat switch contact unloading . See if you can correlate the calamity to when you may be rounding an un-even corner , or a circumstance where you may be inadvertently shifting your weight to more of the front edge of seat , which will cause the tractor's artificial intelligence to think you fell off the seat .


Also : Your tractor is equipped with RIO (Reverse In Operation) PTO safety , so it could be related to that also . Case in point ; I had a 2000 455 That would only engage the pto when you had your foot pretty well forward in the motion control pedal . I discovered the lever that tells the tractor when the reverse impulse is engaged , was bent so the tractor still thought it was in reverse (even though it wasn't) until it was asked to move forward a good bit . I bent the arm back to it's proper static neutral position , and all was fine thenceforth . This switch is located under right frame at the trans-axle end .

Could also be the brake switch adjustment , as Ken says . That is an easy check . Sitting on tractor , turn pto on , then push brake pedal and see how much travel has occurred until it shuts the pto off . Then check brake switch to see if that same amount of travel is available before it trips the switch . Could be a slight adjustment is needed there .

Good luck -
Dave
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P
Ken and Dave ... Thank you both for responding. I will check out each of your suggestions and see if that takes care of it. Again, much appreciated.

Mark
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