# email address needed for mtd and/or yardman



## rbig (Sep 5, 2004)

MTD/Yardman are very careful not to give us an email address or phone # on their web site so they can be contacted.

Anyone have an email address or phone # handy for either? Sure would appreciate getting it if you do.


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## jodyand (Sep 16, 2003)

Welcome rbig:friends: Here is there address and phone # they don't have a email that you can use. Hope this helps.

Please use the following address and telephone number to contact our General Business offices in the United States. MTD Products LLC P.O. Box 368022 Cleveland, OH 44136 Telephone: (330)225-2600 Please view our international listing to find international service, support and distributing.


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## rbig (Sep 5, 2004)

Thanks. I am working on a Yardman model 13AS675H302 owned by our local American Legion Post. I am a volunteer and mow and take care of the mowers they have. 

The Yardman wouldn't start the other day. No noise, nothing. New battery in it. Classical bad solenoid symptom. 

I got to trying to find the solenoid to jump it and see if that is the problem, but couldn't find one. Seems the positive battery lead goes right to the starter. 

I was thinking this might be a new design thing I hadn't previously encountered.

So, was going to try and get a wiring diagram, hoping for a couple of things. One is to find if the solenoid is separate from the starter. The other is if/where any fuses might be, and how many safety switches there are for me to check.

That's when I found out Yardman/MTD are very shy about being contacted from through their web sites


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## guest2 (Dec 27, 2003)

rbig
Did you try to download a manual from the MTD site?


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## rbig (Sep 5, 2004)

Yes, but it has no wiring diagram


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## rbig (Sep 5, 2004)

Called the Yardman office # given to inquire about a wiring diagram. No surprise. 

There is a looped recording which gives me two choices:

a. key in the extension of the person I want to talk to

b. key in the name of the person I want to talk to. 

My conclusion is no spontaneous outside calls desired.


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## guest2 (Dec 27, 2003)

rbig
Today is Labor Day. My guess is the phone system is on "weekend", it will allow you to leave a message for someone, but nobody's in the office. Try Tuesday. Good luck!


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## rbig (Sep 5, 2004)

Of course. Forgot it's Labor Day. That explains it. Tomorrow it is.


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## rbig (Sep 5, 2004)

Called Yardman, and did get an initial answer. Then, they put me on terminal hold (terminal hold is where you go on hold and get old and die waiting for an answer).

However, they were probably buried this morning, after the long weekend. So, I'll wait until Thur and call again. 

Well, the solenoid IS NOT inside the starter case. That's the good news. The bad news is I have a very bad feeling it's hidden away up under the center console.

And, this means I'll probably have to pull the deck to even get to the solenoid. Pulling those decks is no fun at all. It's not hard or difficult, just a pain in the patootie. Accessing the draft arm pins and disconnecting from the deck drive belt is no fun whatsoever. 

I was able to check out the safety switch iin the seat. It's a normally closed switch, and when you take weight off the seat, it opens. Ours is OK. 

What I haven't found is the PTO lock out switch. I have a feeling it too is up under the center console, and will require the deck coming out to give me access to check it.


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## guest2 (Dec 27, 2003)

rbig
I don't know how the yardman is put together, but can you get to it from the top by removing something? Is it under the battery tray for example? For me, it's always easier to look down at what I'm working on, and if there is any caked up acid from the battery around the area you really don't want it to fall in your eyes.


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## rbig (Sep 5, 2004)

Well, your question is a good one. The battery is in a snug "well" under the driver seat. 

Not sure what pulling the battery will reveal, but I'm doing that tomorrow. 

My gut feel is it won't get me to where the solenoid hides. And, if it doesn't, then I don't think there's anything I can remove, other than the whole body panel to get a top-down shot. 

I'll report back tomorrow.


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## rbig (Sep 5, 2004)

Lots of progress to report, mainly thanks to good info given us on the forum. Thanks for that.

We were able to go right to the solenoid, fuse, and seat safety switch.

Everything checked out fine except the solenoid. When we jump the two big terminals on the solenoid, and have the key in "run" position, the mower will start and run fine. It still runs fine when we take jumper off the big solenoid terminals. It won't start at all unless we jump those two big solenoid terminals. Please double check my thinking that this is the culprit. This also tells me the other switches are working OK. 

That solenoid is a cute little thing. If I don't hear not to, we'll pull it tomorrow and get a new one and put it in.


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## guest2 (Dec 27, 2003)

rbig
Looks like you've found the problem.


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## Michael (Sep 16, 2003)

Oh yea and to save the organization some money, I suggest the first stop is your local NAPA or CarQuest auto part store. Just remember to take the old part with you to match up to. I have found that the solnoids are generally generic with the automotive ones and they are a heck of cheaper then a lawn mower shop.


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## rbig (Sep 5, 2004)

Yay, Yay--- I'm a happy camper! 

Changed the solenoid out and it fixed the Yardman problem. 

Thanks to all for the patience and advice. Couldn't have done it without you!

We also have a big Murray that I changed the blades on the other day. We noticed it was chewing instead of cutting, and leaving a strip in the middle of each pass. 

Got under that thing and found the outer tips on the 3 blades curled down approx an inch. Someone obviously got in a good strike on a pipe stub or piece of metal sticking out of the ground. To get all 3 blades, I assume they got it on the left side of the deck on one pass, then on the right side the next pass. Don't know why it wasn't vibrating severely. Lucky we didn't end up losing a couple tires in the process.

We have volunteers who show up to mow from time-to-time. I think I know who did it, and it's one of well intended volunteers who doesn't have experience with riding mowers at all.. There are several of us with experience, and we try to keep doing the mowing. But, for several reasons, we sometimes end up with volunteers who are not knowledgable about mowing big, rough areas. We've got about 6 acres of pasture type terrain/grass.


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## guest2 (Dec 27, 2003)

rbig
Great!! Glad everything worked out. Volunteers to cut grass? I guess I missed something along the way. What is the "organization" mentioned above?


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## rbig (Sep 5, 2004)

American Legion Post. I also do the same stuff for our Elks Lodge. It has 20 acres, and we have 3 (2 Scags, a Lesco ZTR, A Kubota diesel w/bushog) commercial mowers and 3 garden tractors (a Murray and a TroyBilt, and a good old MTD). They also use volunteers. Another guy and myself maintain the eqpt both places, and do most of the mowing. 

Sometimes we have as many as 5 machines mowing at once at the Elk Lodge, when we're lucky. 

I also have two personal garden and one lawn tractor I use at my house. I've restored two of them, and am in the process of restoriing an old Roper, right now. 

I have a '74 John Deere 400 hydro, with pwr steering and 60" deck. It makes quick work of my acre at the house. 

I've tried to attach pics of my current project and my John Deeres. Haven't done this before, so maybe they'll come through, maybe not.


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## rbig (Sep 5, 2004)

Well, one of the attachments came through. Maybe it'll only deal with one at a time. Anyway, here's the other (my current Roper restoration project)....


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## guest2 (Dec 27, 2003)

Wow! Nice toys! I can see why you have volunteers! I know I'd stop by for a chance to play! (I mean work)


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## rbig (Sep 5, 2004)

You're absolutely right. A number of people like being able to get on a machine and being able to mow. However, that's where the fun stops for many, also.

One of the things that's a truism about any fleet type operation, and it's true no matter whether or not we're talking autos, trucks, airplanes, whatever-----having frequent operator change is much harder on eqpt than having one operator all the time. 

The idea is to just bite the bullet and grin and bear it and get on with the extra fixing that's involved.


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