Stiga SD 98 ride-on lawnmower repair and mod
(Also includes how to seriously mess something up creating even bigger repair needs) When we bought our property we also purchased a lot of the equipment the previous owner had acquired. An integral part of that is the lawnmower tractor - total size is close to two acres and most of that is covered with grass. It’s a Hurricane HTG 98 SD, which is a model also sold under many other brands. In Sweden the most known one would probably be Stiga SD 98, but in the UK it’s likely an MTD. It has a Briggs & Stratton 17.5HP engine and does a pretty good job, we use it also to transport things around, collect leaves and tidy up the driveway gravel. A week ago it suddenly wouldn’t start. It’s been a bit finicky since we got it, but no matter what I tried it simply didn’t even engage the starter. This points to an electrical issue, right up my alley. Or so you would think. I have degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Software Engineering, but all the electronics stuff I blog about is all self taught. I also looked forward to tearing it down. Like other ride-ons, it has a safety switch where the engine cuts out immediately when it doesn’t detect a driver in the seat. This is all good and well, I really understand why, but when you have a huge lawn there’s just no way you can walk around in preparation for mowing, getting rid of all small rocks, large twigs and the constantly falling pears and apples now during the autumn. I really need to be able to keep it running while quickly moving things out of the way. Since I had a hunch that the reason it didn’t start was another one of the safety switches, I stripped it down and started to search for both where they originated, and where the mower made the decision to whether it was safe to engage the engine or not. Also, to figure out which one it was that was currently not enabling.
English · Htg · Mower · Mtd · Stiga · Tractor
2099 words
10 minutes