Huskee won't turn over

Hi everything.

I have an older Huskee Premium Model 678 20hp mower. Back in August this mower ran fine and had no issues. Well, the mower sat for a few months without use. I went to start it and nothing, the engine wouldn't turn over. I just put a charge on the battery and that reads fine. I thought it was the solenoid (located by the 20 amp fuse, which is good) under the seat. I was taking the 'bad' solenoid off and accidently connected the bottom terminals and the tractor turned over. I disconnected the battery and took the old solenoid off, I put a new one on and connected everything back up. Still nothing when I turned the key. I tried bridging the posts with a wrench again and the tractor again turned over. I even just replaced the ignition switch and the tractor still doesn't turn over. When the key is turned, I get no clicks, no lights, nothing. What in the hell am I missing?????

you symptoms sound like either a bad connection someplace or faulty safety switch. need to trace the wiring looking for corroded connections at the key switch, pto safety switch or clutch safety switch. may need a ohm/volt meter to test for power and continuity.

OK,
Start by jumping from the battery hot terminal to the small + trigger terminal .
If the starter spins the starter & solenoid are fine.
mowers have 2 safety circuits.
One stops the engine from cranking and the other kills the spark.

Generally power goes from the + terminal on the solenoid to the starter switch via a fuse.
The starter switch connects the S terminal to the power ( B ) terminal.
This then goes through the PTO switch, Brake Switch and possibly a relay or two before it gets to the trigger terminal on the solenoid.
This is a loop circuit so if there is a single break in the chain you aint going nowhere .
So start with the fuse and go looking for 12 V.

Finding a circuit diagram will be very useful but Huskee is a brand I am not familiar with so I have no idea where to look for it.
When you get one, print it out and hen trace over the staring circuit with a highliter to make it easy to isolate the bits you need to check.
All of the switches in this circuit are normally open so will make a circuit when active ( PTO off , Break on, gears in neutral )
Contry to popular belief the starting safety circuit is primarilary there to protect the engine from overload on start up.

I just don't understand how it can run great one day and not even turn over a month later. As for the 'switches' all the safety ones have been disabled and have never been an issue. Is there any way to bypass the switch that engages the blades and lowers the deck? What about the switch that presses in when the brake pedal is pushed in?

If you have to ask that question then the answer will be NO

There is a general concensis on this forum not to tell people willy nilly how to bypass the safety devices which I for one endorse very strongly.
A wire can break in a milli second and if it is a starter trigger wire then of course you will not know it till you try to restart the mower.
Ditto with all the safety switches they are all simple switches either normally open or normally closed and untill enough idiots seriously injure themselves or others they will remain that way.
They could maket them a lot more difficult if they wanted to in the age of cheap chips & microprocessors. And difficult = very expensive to repair.

OTOH every one here who regularly contributes will bend over backwards to help you get the mower back on your lawns as the manufactureres intended it.

Ball is in your court.
If you want any more help fom me then start by posting the results from the previous response.

Okay bertsmobile1,

Last night I really was contemplating buying a new mower all together. Then I got your reply and decided to go back over what I had done. The new solenoid had come with a 'jumper wire', if needed. Well, I re read the directions and that jumper wire had to be plugged into the solenoid and hooked to where it mounted to the frame. I did that and still nothing. Given the schematic shown above I traced even further.... all the way to the fuse, which is a 20 amp and I thought was good. At least it appeared good. I put a temporary 30 amp in and the tractor cranked over like nothing. NOW, I can't get it to fire. Turn over yes, to start no. I'm going to let it sit a while and then pull the plug and see if I am getting spark. My guess is its flooded or the plug is dirty.

Thanks again for your wisdom!

Jeff

Pull the plug and check for a visible spark.
No spark is usually one of the engine kill safety swiches playing up.

I got it to fire. I had to let it set for a bit, then choked it and gave it some gas. Runs like new!

Thanks again!
Jeff