Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Anyone here familiar with Massey Ferguson tractors?

Had a mahindra at deer camp like that.

Turn the key on. Short the starter out with a screwdriver.
Fire right up.

Jump across the two big bolts on the starter. If it turns over, it's in the elect. system. If it doesn't turn over, use battery cable from battery + to big bolt on starter (try each one separately. If it doesn't turn over, its the battery, the starter, or your not grounded. If it turns over, the big wire from the battery to the starter is bad.

I have an 1825 which is similar. Several safety switches, tranny neutral, parking brake/brake, and seat. Must be in neutral, or clutch depressed, sitting in seat with brake and PTO engaged or not (clutch depressed if engaged). Having said all that, it sounds like a starter/solenoid issue.

If you can scan or to a good picture of the starting circuit I'll take a look at it.

This is pretty common on the 5203 John Deere's. You unplug a sensor and it will start.

There aren't the typical 2 bolts on the starter, just 1, which is the positive lug. No negative wires to the starter at all. As near as I can tell, the ground is through the block. The large positive wire runs to the lug on the solenoid part of the starter and is hot at all times. I believe that the smaller (12 gauge?) wire that clips to the solenoid is probably the trigger from the ignition. I'll be testing this after work this evening.

ton my NH here is a circuit board under the hood near the hood hinge and behind the dash.

i had to put a hot jumper on my fuel solenoid because the board got hot and cut out. it is cheap but hard to get to. i have ran on the hot wire for 2 years.

I'd put power to the smaller wire direct from battery just to see if that makes a difference.

Is this a gas tractor? IF so, and it has gears, can you get at it to have someone give you a pull to start it??

Do not whack a starter with a hammer. Unless you’re in a spot where you’re going to drive it to the shop to replace the starter.
Pretty much all starters have the field magnets glued to the inside of the housing. Hitting it with a hammer will most often knock them loose. You may be able to lightly tap one and get away with it, but why risk it?

Nope, diesel and hydrostatic.

Learned that lesson on a 4-wheeler I had. Sometimes a rap on the starter would get it going, but those raps got harder and more frequent, and magnet parts fell out when it was disassembled by the rebuilder.😳

Scott, your plan to check voltage at the solenoid wire will probably be your best next step. It will definitely tell you which direction to continue the troubleshooting.

I think so too. A good signal there should eliminate the possibility of it being a safety switch problem.

Just getting voltage to the trigger wire might not be enough to trigger the solenoid. Wire it to something like a sealed beam headlight bulb that will draw a few amps of current. Any one of the safety switches in the circuit with a set of dirty contacts can reduce the current flow enough to get a click instead of a good starter engagement.

My little Massey is older, an 82. But I fought the dreaded single click for years. If I charged the battery it seemed to work ok. I found an article regarding this issue and installed a relay that kept the voltage up where it should be. A drop in voltage caused the click. It has worked great since I installed that relay on the starter. YMMV. Sorry I don’t have more detail as I’m not at home right now.

My buddy has a NH 35 hp hydro. Every time I am up there, I forget a different safety interlock and have to get him to start the tractor for me.
Front PTO
Rear PTO
Range selector
Hydraulics

check scribd.com. they might have one but it also may be too new

Got it... Bummer.. Hope you get it fixed pronto..

Yeah, some are like that. In this case, there is a metal strap from the solenoid to the starter. Apply 12v to the solenoid at the little wire. If it turns over, the wiring to the solenoid is the problem. Might be safety switch, ignition switch, etc. If the solenoid clicks, but starter doesn't turn over, then it's either the solenoid (they can click, but not make internal contact) or the starter. To check starter, take battery cable and hook battery + to the metal strap that goes from the solenoid to the starter. If the starter is good, that will turn it over. Be careful because if you touch anything other than the metal strap, it will arc, big time. Might have to stick old screwdriver in battery cable to touch metal strap on solenoid.

Make sure the tractor is not in gear, because you will be bypassing all the safety switches by using the battery cable. If in gear, the tractor will most likely move when the starter turns over.

When my Mahindra did that, it was a safety switch under the seat.