Simplicity riding mower seat interlock?

[Joe J]

Just bought a different house and included with the offer to purchase was the Simplicity riding mower. Closed this week and discovered that he left the battery and a half a tank of gas in the mower. That would mean its been sitting in the freezing WI winter since about mid October. The battery is shot and won't take a charge. Anyway, brought my old battery from home, got it running and just wanted to run the old gas out. The seat interlock isn't working. So even with the parking brake on and no blade turning, I can't get off the seat w/o the mower dying. Anyone know how that interlock works and if I can fix it? It must be some kind of mechanical relay but I can't find anything under the seat. It flips forward for battery access but I don't see anything else under there. Any guesses appreciated.

I just want to run the old gas out and deal with it in spring, but I don't want to park my ass on it for 3 hours in 30 degree weather, running the mower out of gas. WI spring is at least 6 weeks away :( Thanks, Joe

[aemeijers]

Got any rocks or concrete blocks?

Not familiar with the deadman switch on Simplicitys, but if it isn't obvious, it must be in the hinge, or buried in the seat. Any wires running through the hinge area?

(Googles)

Nah, that didn't work, since I don't know your model number. But apparently it is called a 'safety switch', if you want to hunt. And there were hits about a recall on the switches for that brand.

[mm]

If it's running with the old gas, the gas isn't bad. It's a waste to burn it for nothing. I'd put in the recomended amount of sta-bil and let it sit until spring. You can even mix it with new gas then, but it doesn't seem necessary.

[hrhofmann]

The mower is operating as designed!!! It is supposed to shut off automatically if you should fall off the seat, such as when you go under a low-hanging tree branch, of maybe tip over on a hillside. If it runs, I would add a little fresh gas, and then stabil as suggested by others, and then maybe run it every two weeks for 5 minutes or so. Have you checked the cleanliness of the air filter, and how about changing the oil?

[Dimitrios Paskoudniakis]

The mower is operating as designed!!! It is supposed to shut off automatically if you should fall off the seat, such as when you go under a low-hanging tree branch, of maybe tip over on a hillside. If it runs, I would add a little fresh gas, and then stabil as suggested by others, and then maybe run it every two weeks for 5 minutes or so. Have you checked the cleanliness of the air filter, and how about changing the oil?

+++++++++++++++++++

You misunderstand. As the OP points out, the parking brake is set and the blade is off. Under those circumstances, plus the gear in neutral, you are supposed to be able to get off the seat without the engine cutting off. The interlock to cut off the engine is there if either the parking brake is not set or the blades are running.

He is asking why the engine cuts off even with the parking brake set and the blades not running. It's supposed to not cut off at that point. That's exactly how mine works. When working properly, it allows you under the right safety settings to be able to get up without cutting off the engine.

[hrhofmann]

.- Hide quoted text -

OK - Sorry. I would try to get a wiring diagram from the manufacturer, assuming the OP has a multimeter and knows how to trace wiring.

[Steve Barker]

personally, i'd bypass such a thing before i spent even 2 seconds on it. But having said that, i'd just unbolt the dam gas tank, dump the shit out and put it back on. If you insist upon leaving it dry. (not recommended).

_I_ would FILL the tank, add stabil, run for 10 minutes and forget it. The shit won't go bad over the winter anyway even without the stabil.

[jw]

That's what I was thinking. At $4.00 a gallon, why are you wasting gas? If it sat this long it wont get any worse in cold weather. Gas breaks down in hot weather much faster. Add the Stabil if that makes you feel better, otherwise just wait till you need to mow the lawn, add some fresh gas to it, and mow till it runs out. We'll be mowing soon I hope....

[jw]

They should have those on Shetland ponys when kids ride them. Ponys always find those low hanging branches when kids are riding them.

[jw]

I fully agree. I bypass those stupid cutoff switches on all riding mowers, and wire down those hand held cutoff bars on all push mowers. When I mow I have to regularly move hoses and stuff in the yard. I'm not going to have to keep restarting the damn mowers over and over. Its a lot more dangerous to try to reach down to move a hose while seated on the mower, and people will do that to avoid having to restart the damn thing, especially on pull starting ones. If I had kids, I would probably have a bypass switch for my own use (not theirs), but I dont have kids and only use the mowers myself. All the safety shit gets removed as soon as I get a new mower. On the seat interlocks there has to be two wires somewhere under it. Cut them, splice then together with a wirenut. End of problem.

But why is the OP needing to do anything. Leave it alone. It runs, park it till it's time to mow the lawn.

[Hank]

It probably isn't the seat switch that isn't working correctly. It is probably the switch that is activated/de-activated at the foot pedal/ foot pedal linkage.

Your seat probably has a little tab on it. When you sit on the seat, the tab will go thru a slot in the frame and activate/de-activate the dead-mans switch.

There may be a parts breakdown on line for you rmodel. Check it out.

Hank

[HeyBub]

How else are they going to learn?

[Denny]

replying to jw, Denny wrote: I'm installing a safety interlock switch on a Taylor and Dunn work cart, as of now it's working backwards, you sit down and it won't run, any ideas, my brains are like marshmallow at this point

[trader_4]

It sounds like you have the wrong kind of switch or are using the wrong pair of contacts on the switch. It needs a Normally Open (NO) and you have a Normally Closed or vice versa. Some switches have three terminals and offer both.