Just got back from mowing.
Alright, I went through all those steps. I also had no juice at the starter solenoid.
check fuses, battery connections - good. Battery-just bought new one.
12.7v at large terminal post on starter - check - inline fuse intact
third - Zero corrosion on starter, terminals, etc.(also previously bench tested starter autozone). here's where things get hinky. check the small terminal post on starter- solenoid. No juice at turned key. As I'm fooling around, why does this small terminal show ground continuity when the pink/black start wire is disconnected??? Anyways, I began checking the safeties and installing jumpers.
fourth-forgot all about this. Got distracted chasing safety switches
fifth - again, major case of ADD. Forgot to check
sixth - ground circuit intact everywhere I check
I immediately began troubleshooting all the switches. However, after working through all the safeties, and ensuring power at the keyswitch, then power leaving the keyswitch, and power at the yellow switch at the base of the start relay! Where was I losing power?!? I went to autozone and bought new equivalent relays, but STILL no juice at the starter solenoid! I then proceeded to check the pink/black wire that supplies power to the relay for continuity-it's good. I pulled the pink/black from the start solenoid, and then checked for continuity to ground-YES, there is continuity to ground-is that normal?!?!?
The worst part is, I put it all back together, returned original relays to the circuit, and decided to try to jump start the tractor with a screwdriver(which was unsuccessful previously). Success! I know that this thread is darn near useless in the diagnosing aspect for people learning, BUT, I'm pretty sure that the whole exercise may have contributed to better contact in all the switches, and this alone may have solved this riddle. I may also have an intermittent issue with a keyswitch or something. However, I believe that a sincere prayer for help probably had an awful lot to do with this riddle(I work like it all depends on me, but pray like it all depends on Him!:biggrin
Rivets- big thanks for the sanity checklist-was a great jumping off place to work from, and a great sanity check for me. Thank you!
BobP- gonna keep that switch in mind. Mine seemed pretty clean on the OUTSIDE-wonder what it looks like inside there???
Thanks all!
Paul