Well, Ernie looks like he’s the front-runner for snow pushing this winter… I got the fuel leak issues resolved by putting a newer style shutoff valve on him, I put a set of lights, wheel weights and chains on him, and ran him around a bit last weekend to get the feel of him… The only big problem is the lack of neutral start switch… REALLY scary when you forget… Particularly since my boot heels hook the shifter when I get on or off him… So, thanks to some advice from GeorgiaDeere, I learned that you could sub in a fairly common, $8.00 NAPA switch (SW179) for the $89 original neutral start switch from Deere… Plus, I got a spare bracket off of Cranky (saving myself $60 on the bracket) AND the wiring harness off Cranky (saving another $18)… So here it is, the neutral start switch for Ernie…
Here’s the SW179, a bit bigger than the stock one
So I needed to enlarge the mount hole a bit in the bracket
Then I figured out where the switch went from open to closed using my meter…
Marked it with a little dot of ink for when I mounted the switch…
Made some pigtails with crimp-on spade connectors for hooking into the wiring harness, because there’s not enough room to fit the connectors on the switch when its mounted,
Soldered the other ends into rings so they wouldn’t come out of the screw connectors easily,
Hooked them up,
Mounted the switch
Adjusted the mount so the switch closes when the detent hits it in the neutral spot…
Next step, finding some time to pull the wheel weights off Ernie, drop the transaxle, and mount this bad boy…