3184 PTO will not stay engaged
 

Newbie here, great site! Hopefully, I am in the correct area to post for my 3184 tractor, guess garden tractor. Am an older fella....
My 3184 runs great and cuts well. Just did a major overhaul of my 44" deck as the front bracket broke off and had to get it welded. Was rather rusty once I saw how bad underneath. Guess keeping it in the garage I should have cleaned the deck more often. But the manual stated it best to not hose anything down.

My problem is the PTO engages fine but I have to hold up the switch in order to use it. Stays engaged all the time if I hold it up. Once I let go it cuts off. See a lot of info on safety switches being the issue. It works fine if I keep the switch up making me think it's the PTO switch. Had this problem before the broken deck repair.
Any help for this ol fella sure would be helpful. Thanks for any help. -Jim

I agree with your guess. It's likely the switch. When you release the switch does it fall back into off position? Or does it still stand tall in the on position? How many hours does the meter show? It's likely been cycled a lot of times and needs rebuilt or replaced. My 3165 pto switch does not work at all. I just bypassed the switch. I had intended to work on it, but ended up getting a different tractor. Now it's less important.

Well my response lead me to get out and work on it. I extracted they switch. The back side has a heavy metal bracket that needs to be removed with a fair amount of finger strength. Then 2 7/16 head bolts to remove the lever. Then push the switch from the back out through the front. Once removed I used my multi meter in continuity mode to check the terminals. I tested out the continuity. My switch tested good. I Must have a frayed wire or something else. Your issue still sounds like a switch issue.

I'm thinking it's the switch too.
Here is the schematic of a Briggs powered machine showing the pto circuit. Your machine will have a CH18 Kohler Command but the circuit will be the same. It is probably too small to read so I have attached a link to the free service manual.

Attachment 114940

https://mymowerparts.com/pdf/Cub-Cad...air-Manual.pdf

Thanks for everyones input. The tractor just turned over 400 hours. Now to tackle the switch. Thanks as well for the info on what needs to be removed and schematic. Looks like a slight challenge. Thought of just sticking a wedge in to keep her running, but just not my type of fix. Runs fine if I hold up the switch cover. Great helpful forum.

Removed the switch which was a bit of a challenge and wanted to confirm that yes the switch is bad. Did not want to stay in the up position. Received a new switch today and can see the difference. Thanks for all the help given.