Cub Cadet RZT 50 Starter issue

Hey yall so I came to own a Cub Cadet RZT 50 zero turn mower this past week for free from a buddy. Free because it needs some work. I replaced the STARTER, one ignition coil, spark plugs, battery, and carburetor. I sat on the mower, got ready to start it and as I had hoped, it turned over and ran. Saw some smoke so I shut it off. Turns out there was oil on the exhaust pipe running to the muffler and that's what was burning. Hopped back on the seat to start again and......nothing. Starter won't even try to engage. Any ideas? I am baffled by this. I appreciate all the help I can get.

Regards,

JT

Make sure the direction levers on fully seated in outward position.

May be hard to believe but the solenoid must have died right after that first attempt because I just jumped the solenoid with a pair of pliers. Ill replace it and see what happens.

Before you rush out to the parts store,
Jump from the battery cable to the solenoid trigger
If you have two trigger wires then jump one & ground the other
Does not mater which way you do it.

bertsmobile1 said:

Before you rush out to the parts store,
Jump from the battery cable to the solenoid trigger
If you have two trigger wires then jump one & ground the other
Does not mater which way you do it.

Click to expand...

I wish I saw your comment first. So I bought a universal solenoid and replaced it and nothing changed. So I thought maybe it was the ignition switch. Bought one of those and installed it and BAM blew the 20 amp fuse. Realized my original solenoid grounded to the frame and this new one had a second terminal with a ground wire. I didn’t install that and that’s why it blew. I installed the ground wire this time put a new fuse in and nothing happens now. Put the old solenoid on and still nothing happens. The hour display doesn’t even cut on when I turn the key now. I think I screwed this thing up. Any suggestions?

YES
But don't let that discourage you we have all been there before
A fuse that blows strait away suggests a short but we will try the silly things we all do when we are not paying attention to what we are doing first
So check the battery is in the right way round first
Next go to the Cub web site & download the RTZ parts manual
The copy I have has a wiring diagram on page 20.
It is important that we all have the same song book to sing from so get that first then get back
Make some small patch cables a few inches long with a male spade on each end.
You will use these to jump ( bypass) various switches till you find the culprit.
Pull the plug off the back of the ignition switch and check that is has the same number of wires & colours as shown in the diagram.
Check for 12 V at the B wire which looks to be red+white
If you have that you can jump the B ( red+white ) to the starter, S terminal (orange)
Then the cranking circuit wires at the brake switch , orange to orange + white
Then pull the plug from the PTO switch and do the same Orange+ white to Orange + white ( one might be plain orange )
Same for the switches on the two lap bars.

BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO JUMP TO A YELLOW WIRE OR A YELLOW + ANY COLOUR WIRE
These are the magneto kill wires and putting battery voltage to any of them anywhere for even the briefest time will fry the chips in the coils $$$$$$$$$$$$