OT: Defeating safety switches on newer lawn tractors (seat, reverse, blade, etc)

[Bill Pace]

I'm going to have to get a new riding lawn tractor this year, my 20 year old Yard Man is showing its age. I had long ago over rode the safety switches on it and they were pretty simple to do. I'm curious to know on the late model stuff if they have toughened up defeating them. The thought of having to put up with the seat and reverse switches are especially discouraging (probably the others too!) At the moment I'm kinda looking at a LXT1050 Cub Cadet, but am gonna keep checking around.

Anybody had any dealings with these irksome things?

[Jaakko Fagerlund]

They are just simple microswitches most probably, the easiest solution is to rewire around them.

BUT: Why? Why on earth one would disable them, as the idea is to provide safety and what I've used those lawn mower tractors, they are not of nuisance. Sure I need to restart after I get up, but so what? Takes all of 3 seconds to do so.

[John Stevenson]

Can't help with a lawn tractor but just had to go round my new to me fork truck.
Seat switch got bypassed, reversing beeper got ripped off, flashing light got whacked with a shovel and the grille in front of the mast got removed as it hit the sloping roof before the forks are level with the top loft floor.

All this safety crap and they missed out what is actually needed, a pair of headlights.

Mind you had a laugh two weeks ago.

I get one or two skips of waste wood a week for burning, from a furniture company literally 200 yards up the road. They drop it off with their big fork truck that's licensed and I take it back when empty with mine.

Two weeks ago just pulled out of the drive and onto the road when a police car came out the bodyshop opposite [ bodyshop has the police contract ] and fell into line behind me.
Ignored him and carried on, he can't pass due to parked cars and this skip is 8 foot wide, turned right into the furniture company giving a nice correct hand signal.

PC Plod pulls over and walks across.

"Is this vehicle taxed for the road ?"

No point lying as it's obviously not.

Me "No it's exempt"

PC PLod " Why is it exempt" ?

Me "I'm a pensioner, It's my mobility scooter"

He can't help but smile and I just got a bollocking and told not to do it again. To which I added under my breath "today "

[flathead4]

I have a Cub Cadet but it's 21 years old so I can't answer your question about the new ones. But I can comment on the idea of defeating the safety switches. Mine has two interlocks. 1) you can't backup with the blades engaged and 2) you cant get off with the blades engaged. The first one I disabled immediately, in fact the salesman showed me where the read switch was on the fwd-rev lever (hydro drive). My yard has many obstacles and if I had to disengage the blades everytime I back up, I'd be out there all day. Besides, I made it a habit to look behind me whenever I back up. But as far as the read switch under the seat, I have left that intact. My reasoning is that I think it is a darned good idea to disengage the blades before dismounting. One little slip in some fresh-cut, wet grass and good buy toes or worse. I haven't found it to be much of an inconvenience in the last 21 years. Another reason for leaving it intact is that I am not always the only one to use it. Don't want to be responsible for harming wife or child. There is a situation where I have to defeat the seat switch and that is to jump start it when the battery is dead. The battery is under the seat. It's a simple matter to pull the wire connector.

Tom

[Black_Moons]

Me "No it's exempt"

PC PLod " Why is it exempt" ?

Me "I'm a pensioner, It's my mobility scooter"

He can't help but smile and I just got a bollocking and told not to do it again. To which I added under my breath "today "

Around here, Im pertty sure thats a valid excuse. Theres absolutely no definition of mobility scooter, its vauge enough to drive.. a forklift through!
No requirements to be driving one either, or *rules*, just 'suggestions', like 'travel at the same speed as other pedestrian traffic', Around here there is no other ped traffic, so it basiclly means 'travel at the same speed as yourself', Easy enough to follow!

[halac]

Are you aware that doing this will void the warranty?

When my Dad & I had a small engine repair shop there was a Federal law that required if a piece of equipment with these safety devices removed came into the shop, the repair shop had to replace them at the cost of the owner, or had the option to refuse to repair it at all.

[sasquatch]

Almost everyone i know has disconnected/bypassed that dumb seat switch. (including myself.)

[lwalker]

It's pretty easy to do on my Husqvarna, but I haven't. There's an ignition key position so you can back up with the blades engaged (they warn you not to do this for obvious reasons) so a lot of people must have complained about not being able to do it. And if you engage the brake and disengage the blades, you can get out of the seat and it will keep running.

As flathead4 said, getting off the thing with the blades still spinning is not the wisest of ideas for any number of reasons.

On my 30 year old Murray garden tractor/snowblower all interlocks are disabled, but I am considering putting the one that shuts off the motor if I get out of the seat with the snowblower engaged back. You get tired clearing a long driveway in subzero temperatures and howling wind. Slip on the ice too close to that spinning auger and there goes a hand!

-Lyndon

[J. R. Williams]

Some of the "safety items' are merely there to keep lawyers off of the manufacturer's backs. What we used to call engineering by legislation.

[Boostinjdm]

That switch that disengages the blade when backing up is really hard on clutches. I replaced a clutch for a local guy that only had about 4 years on the mower. I can tell when he's out mowing because of the sound of the blades going in and out.
He doesn't want to bypass that switch, but he'll mow all day long with the discharge chute bungeed up. I can hear the rocks bouncing off the side of my house when he's mowing the neighbors. He's already been warned that a rock through one of my new windows will cost him.

[chriskat]

The Bolen I have now has a simple micro-switch on the seat. It's about two years old. I've bypassed that. I don't think it had the backup switch so I can mow backing up.

The MTD I had before the Bolen was basically the same mower. It had both switches and I bypassed them both.

[darryl]

"I'm a pensioner, It's my mobility scooter"

That's good, Sir John. I'll be trying to get away with that line when some cop pulls me over for riding some contraption.

So do you fake a limp or something if asked to step out of the vehicle?

[oxford]

I hated the seat switch on my fathers lawn tractor. I did find on his(craftsman) if you set the parking brake you can get off and keep it running. Figured it was a fair enough trade.

[Black_Moons]

Some of the "safety items' are merely there to keep lawyers off of the manufacturer's backs. What we used to call engineering by legislation.

Ah, like those stupid drill press chuck guards that only get in the way, With a safty switch on it no less. First thing that went when I was setting up my mill.

[JoeLee]

I had to borrow my sisters John Deere last summer for a couple cuts when my good ol Simplicity was getting a tune up. What a POS !!!
It was the most aggrevating thing I've ever used. Aside from just lifting my ass slightly off the seat to move a piece of lawn furniture or something out of the way, the motor would cut out. Worst thing was you can't back up unless you disengage the blades. What a pain.
In my yard with all the obsticales I have to do a lot of reverse driving. All that disengaging would wear the clutch out before it's time.
I'de never part with my old Simplicity tractors.

JL..................