I tried 20+ times - everything...brake, steering levers, blade switch...I'm getting nothing when I turn the key. So I'll check the ignition switch and solenoid tomorrow. But shouldn't the mower crank when I bridge the solenoid and it turns over perfectly? It just seems weird that ignition AND fire/spark would break at the same time.
jake,
Please be careful with our terminology.
Remember that you have the mower in front of you and all we have is words on the screen
Crank = turns over or rotates if you like
Fire = charge in the cylinder explodes or spark bridges the plug gap if talking about ignition.
Start = fires a few times as if it would run.
I don't mean to be pedantic but it just makes it hard to work out what you mean.
As previously mentioned, if the fuse blew when the heavy load from the blade clutch was applied, then you will get nothing from the mower.
The default position is everything turns off.
Thanks to all the idiot moron bastards who seem to think defeating manditory safety devices is a sign of higher intelligence and too smart lawers geting massive pay outs for the said same retards, safety circuits have become progressively more complicated.
On most ZTR's and I don't have a copy of your circuit diagrams to check, relays are used for the magneto kill switch and for the cranking circuit so if the fuse ( fuses ) blow, everything comes to a sickening grinding halt.
Now if turning the PTO on blows the fuse, you have a short in the clutch , clutch switch or clutch wiring.