# Neutral Safety Switch



## DaddysTractor (Jul 26, 2016)

New to the site. I have a ford 3000, unsure of the year, I believe it's a 1977. Tractor belonged to my Dad who recently passed. I absolutely love the tractor but am having issues with the neutral safety switch. Works sometimes and then it doesn't. If I take the wires off and put back on, sometimes it cranks. I've heard people suggest disconnecting all together but I would rather keep it the way Dad had it. How hard is it to fix??


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## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

most likely the contacts have arced and pitted, have a look at the switch and see if this could be pulled apart, if this was possible to do, you could clean the contacts and reassemble, I doubt if this will be possible though.

Have you joined the two wires together to see if the tractor will start with no problems ?, just a test suggestion.

The other option is to buy a new starter safety switch


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## sixbales (May 18, 2011)

Howdy DT, welcome aboard the tractor forum.

As FredM suggested get a new safety switch. Put the transmission shift levers in neutral. Unplug the safety switch. Remove the bolts holding the transmission cover in place and lift the cover carefully. There may be some spring-loaded detent plungers held down by the cover. Take care to not lose any parts into transmission. Change the safety switch and button her back up.


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## DaddysTractor (Jul 26, 2016)

Thank you both, I joined the two wires together and still wouldn't crank. So does this mean my issues are not the safety switch??


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## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

you could have a problem with the starter switch then, if you have a multimeter, set this to either 6 or 12 volts DC, whatever the battery voltage is of your tractor, hold the starter lead that goes to the solenoid to the positive lead of the multimeter and ground the negative lead of the multimeter to a good ground on the tractor chassis or better still the negative post of the battery and then get someone to turn the start switch to the start position and hold, see if you get a voltage reading, do this a few times with the starter switch to get a comparison of the operation of the switch.

if you don't have a multimeter you can use a bulb of the correct voltage, place the starter lead to the center pole of the bulb and an earthing wire to ground as stated in the previous paragraph, the bulb should light up if the switch is ok, rotate the switch to start the position a few times also.

if you have a soldering iron, you could solder a lead to the center pole of the bulb and an earthing wire to the metal portion of the bulb, you would need to clean the metal good for the solder to take, if you did this your two hands would be enough to carry out the test, not being funny, it is I have been there, I expect you would be able to buy in your area a pack of short cables with small alligator clips on each end, these can save one a lot of bother, just an idea for you.

lets hear what you come up with.

cheers


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## DaddysTractor (Jul 26, 2016)

Thanks FredM. I'll try that. It hasn't given me any more issues as of lately but I do want it to be right.


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