Anyone who owns a lawn and garden tractor knows that there are times when the vehicle will break down or not start. You may not realize all the things to check when this happens to you, but there are some very easy ways to troubleshoot the problem, and possibly save yourself from hiring a repair guy- when the problem is that the tractor is broken at all!
The first thing you need to check is that the "dead man's switch" or the safety switch it's technically called, are tripped (engaged). These safety features are great to have just in case but they can also, if you're not careful, stop the tractor from starting! Anything can trip them from kids playing on them to practical jokers messing with you by setting things the way they aren't supposed to be (or that you didn't leave them!).
Porter Cable Tool
The parking break is another safety switch that needs to be locked down or some tractors won't start. If you turned the tractor off but didn't fully engage the parking break, this will disconnect the tractors ability to start for you. Many tractors have a lock that goes in place to assure it's set in fully, but even this can allow too much give causing the problem. Lawn and garden tractors get old over time and with use things get shaken loose- like the parking break lock! This part can also go out of adjustment due to all the heavy shaking and bumping that happens on a tractor so check this out, it may be the problem!
Make sure your tractor doesn't require it to be in neutral for it to start. Most lawn and garden tractors have this feature so chances are yours does too! This is a safety mechanism as well that makes sure you don't turn the tractor on and belt forward knocking you off the machine. This could cause serious injury and may send the tractor out of control causing damage or worse. This is a common issue people don't think to check! If any of these things don't work, there are many more tips online. You can use sites like YouTube to pull up helpful videos created by lawn and garden tractor users for tractor users!