Hello everybody,
I'm new here, this is my first attempt at trying to fix a lawn tractor.
Just bought a 1982 John Deere 314 for $100, Hasn't run in 7 years. Figured why not give it a try.
Spent the weekend replacing chewed and burnt connections, new ignition switch, and installed a new air filter. Fresh gas in so, I tried to fire it up but not unsurprisingly it didn't work. Starter solenoid looks to be toast. Bypassed the solenoid and found out the starter motor spins but refused to pop out. Popped it out manually with a wrench and jumped the connections, it spun the whole crank but no spark as far as i could tell. Discovered the motor was grounding through the throttle cable which started smoking. The exhaust pipe did have a faint fresh gas smell so I'm assuming fuel was making to the cylinder.
It also has leaks on the hydraulic system somewhere. Haven't looked to far into it.
So right now I'm working on grounding the motor properly, replacing the starter and solenoid. And seeing if that does the trick. I looked over the safety switches but haven't metered any of them at this point. the seat switch was removed because of corrosion so i have it braided together at the moment.
Is there a trick to getting at the starter bolts beside the engine frame? i can get a socket on there with a flex head barely but its stripping the second bolt because its a bit more crooked than the one nearest the front of the tractor.
Any advice on this little project is always appreciated.
Thanks guys!
I'm new here, this is my first attempt at trying to fix a lawn tractor.
Just bought a 1982 John Deere 314 for $100, Hasn't run in 7 years. Figured why not give it a try.
Spent the weekend replacing chewed and burnt connections, new ignition switch, and installed a new air filter. Fresh gas in so, I tried to fire it up but not unsurprisingly it didn't work. Starter solenoid looks to be toast. Bypassed the solenoid and found out the starter motor spins but refused to pop out. Popped it out manually with a wrench and jumped the connections, it spun the whole crank but no spark as far as i could tell. Discovered the motor was grounding through the throttle cable which started smoking. The exhaust pipe did have a faint fresh gas smell so I'm assuming fuel was making to the cylinder.
It also has leaks on the hydraulic system somewhere. Haven't looked to far into it.
So right now I'm working on grounding the motor properly, replacing the starter and solenoid. And seeing if that does the trick. I looked over the safety switches but haven't metered any of them at this point. the seat switch was removed because of corrosion so i have it braided together at the moment.
Is there a trick to getting at the starter bolts beside the engine frame? i can get a socket on there with a flex head barely but its stripping the second bolt because its a bit more crooked than the one nearest the front of the tractor.
Any advice on this little project is always appreciated.
Thanks guys!
