[Steve N Mi]

I bought this Super the end of June and it did start and run when I would insert a jumper as shown by the PO. He claimed the PTO switch was no good and if I replaced it, all would be well once more. The jumper was a short piece of wire inserted into the female plug slots for the 2 red wires for the PTO sw.

After buying a new switch and installing it, the tractor failed to turn over at all. I started looking at the wiring and didn't get far before I noticed that both the feed and ground leads going to the front PTO were taped up. The electrical tape was poorly done (really a bad job) and was covering several inches of bare wire, the insulation had burned or melted off and the copper wire was even a little crispy.

I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep this short - I want to give any brave soul that offers help, background to better describe the problem. Oh, the Magnum was replaced by a K Command. The original engine had internal problems and not suitable for rebuild - so I was told by the PO. Maybe the meltdown was caused by a HOT engine before it quit, I'm only guessing. I think these pto's normally draw only a few amps, right? Not enough to melt wire insulation or am I wrong about this?

I have a wiring diagram thanks to R Bedell (I will give credit to the OCC member once I track down who it was that sent it to me), so I may be able to follow along if someone will point me to a starting point or trouble shooting path. Thanks for any help, Steve