Wheel Horse 244-5 won't crank

When I turn the switch to the start position....nothing. Checked the battery. tried to tap the starter with a jumper cable, nothing?
Not sure where to start.
Thanks for your very basic help.

PS: Tractor has no mower deck or implements. Just use it to pull a cart and a seed spreader.

You should remove the ground cable and clean all battery cable connections until they're shiny. Clean the surface where your battery is grounded
that includes all the lugs/spades on your battery cables. If there's a starter solenoid clean those cables too. Use a hydrometer and check the specific gravity in each battery cell. Should see readings around 1.280 on a fully charged battery. If none of these fix the problem pull the starter and see if the bendix drive will move when you apply battery voltage. It should fly out when voltage is applied to engage the ring gear. Keep your hands and fingers away that end of the starter. Hal

Thanks, Now I at least know where to start.

Check 25A fuse between battery/ign sw,if this fuse blown nothing on tractor will work.

It should at least crank over the engine when he jumpered at the starter. Hal

Hi Hal-The sol on his eng is mounted on starter & is a plunger/lifting fork design to lift drive into flywheel ring gear in addition to closeing contacts for starter motor,he probably took jumper to battery terminal on sol rather than jumping to terminal on sol that has tab on it going into starter motor,doing this would at least cause starter motor to spin,but drive won't engage flywheel,to get starter to engage normally all he has to do is take a jumper to coil terminal on sol,if he has power to starter & sol/starter in working condition starter will spin eng,there are also two 25A fuses on tractor,one for alt output & the other for wiring on tractor(ign sw,pto,lights).

Ok, cleaned all the terminals and put in a new battery. Have ground, it sparks when touched pos. to frame. Nothing when I turn the key. Can't find an inline fuse, on either the red or blue wire. Have a junction block with 3--40 amp spade fuses, just below the gas tank on the right side under the hood beside the battery. What do they fuse?

I'd like to try jumping it with the new battery now that I am sure we have a good ground. Which terminal on the starter or solenoid should I jump to?

Could the starter switch be bad? What are the safety lockouts?

Many thanks for your help.

The 3 fuses are for alt output to battery,feed to ign sw/tractor wiring & pto,pull fuses & check with an ohmmeter/battery powered test light,fuse may be blown inside body & not be visable in window on same,also check rateings on fuses carefully,same may be 4.0A not 40A,if they are someone in the past has installed oversize fuses,according to wiring diag at partstree alt output should be 30A,fuse for ign sw/tractor wiring 25A & fuse for pto 15A.

Goto link below with mod#/sn of tractor off id tag,operators manual & service manual for eng avail as a free download,download both & save same to disk & print offline,if no wiring diagram in operators manual goto link below & look in toro lawn/garden tractors,find your tractor mod#,wiring diag posted there.

If sol on starter has 2 large connections on same,put jumper on large connection with tab going into starter motor,this should spin starter motor if starter motor good,take a jumper from battery terminal & momentarly touch small terminal on sol for coil,starter drive should engage & starter should crank eng if sol/starter motor in operating condition.

https://lookup3.toro.com/request/request.cfm
toro

Jumped the battery to the starter and it will engage the solenoid, and crank the engine. I did not try to fire it up. But I now know the starter is Ok and the battery and grounds are OK.

The problem has to be in the starter switch circuit somewhere.

I know the fuses are shot so i will replace them today.

Boy, what a complex wiring setup for a little tractor used only to tow stuff around the property , no PTO, No mower.

Is there any easy way to simplify the electrical wiring to just a start/ kill switch?

I have 2 full size tractors (50 & 65 HP) here on the farm that are far less complicated to operate.

You need to use a volt meter or test lite to see if there's battery voltage to your solenoid when you twist the key to start or press a starter button. There should be voltage being fed to to your switch you can check that with your volt meter or lite. Check that first, if there's no voltage being fed to your switch you won't have any for starting your engine. Could be a broken or loose wire if there's no voltage. Hal