Ariens Garden Tractor GT22

I bought this Ariens GT22 tractor in the Spring with the snowblower and lawnmower attachments. I do not know the exact year, but it is fairly new and looks it. My guess is around a 2003 or 4. I haven't used the snowblower yet. The mower worked fine until just recently when I took it to Nova Scotia from New Hampshire. I had to take the deck off to fit everything in the trailer. When I got to Nova Scotia and put it all together it started okay and I mowed for maybe 15 minutes or so before everything just quit. The 30 amp fuse blew. After replacing the fuse, the tractor would start and quit as soon as it started and blow the fuse again. I tried to find a visable problem with the wiring but didn't. I tried jumping the starter directly from the battery and it turned over fine. I spent a day and a half trying to figure it out and finally gave up and called a local small engine shop. The owner picked it up after taking the mower off and took it to his shop. He seemed to be a nice, honest, older guy. Anyways, he had trouble finding the problem too. It was the starter. Over $200 just for the starter! That seemed to cure the problem and he brought it back. Ended up costing me a little over $400! The tractor ran fine until I put the mower deck back on and mowed about 30 feet! Blew the same fuse. I must have spent about $20 on fuses. Do they make one that has a circuit breaker?? That would be great! Anyways, I'd put another fuse in and it would blow right off. I disconnected the wire from the ignition switch to the starter at the starter and then plugged the new fuse in which would work sometimes. I was able to get the tractor started and tried mowing and it worked for about 45 minutes or so. There seemed to be somewhat of a pattern when the fuse would blow. When turning left and going slightly uphill. The tractor does have power steering. I pulled the gas tank off along with some other sheet metal to look for damaged wiring. None. Except for the seat. The wiring had gotten caught in the slide of the adjustable seat and was pinched. I fixed that, including taping the wiring and routing it so it would not happen again. The mower is run by hydraulics with an electric pto clutch. By the way, the fuse even blew a couple of times when I raised or lowered the mower deck which is hydraulic also.

I really hope this can be fixed because it is a nice heavy duty garden tractor that runs great when it is running. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Sorry for the length of this thread but I wanted to provide as much information as possible.

 

Has it blown a fuse since fixing the seat wire? Let the tractor sit in one spot and try moving different things until the fuse blows, and you find some action that continually blows the fuse. Then look for parts of the wiring harness or individual wires that move or touch moving parts that move when the "fuse blowing action" is performed. Then wiggle the harness in these areas until you find the spot that blows it when you move the harness. You should have the problem area pretty well isolated now. (assuming this is a wiring problem rather than component failure).

 

Hi Cheese and thanks for the advice!

Yes it has blown the fuse several times after fixing the seat wire. I had done just as you suggested previously as far as moving the wires and waiting for a spark or the fuse to blow but nothing happened. When the fuse blows, it is a violent blow which I would think would be a short and not a overload. I used to be a lineman for a utility company and that's how we diagnosed a blown line fuse. You may be right about the component failure. I had also sent Ariens an e-mail about this problem and they stated that it may be the electric clutch overheating. But the fuse would also blow after sitting a day without being used so it was cold. The last time I had the problem I only had 5 fuses with me to try to get the tractor started. It immediately blew the first fuse. I disconnected the wire from the ignition switch to the starter solenoid at the solenoid, plugged in the fuse and then plugged the wire back in. The fuse blew again and did for the next 2 fuses. Finally the last fuse worked and I drove the tractor about 300 feet to the barn where it is stored and shut it off. Weird huh? I hate these kind of electrical problems because they are hard to locate. This doesn't make sense to me at all! If you come up with anything else, please let me know. May God Bless You Too!

 

I thought about the electric PTO at first, but as I read further, it sounded like it was blowing even without the clutch engaged. If so, it's not the PTO clutch.

I don't see a reference to a GT22 for Kubota. I see it for New Holland. Is it a new holland with a kubota engine?

Does it blow the fuse before even turning the key to start sometimes? If it blows it just by turning the key on at times, I would suspect a relay, or the fuel control solenoid at the injector pump if this is a diesel engine. Did it get wet during the trip you made? I assume you've checked all around the deck connections/hookup to be sure a wire didn't get pinched?

 

Ariens, Cheese. I'll let you handle this one.

 

Had this problem with my Ariens GT-20 with the incline fuse blowing...etc... I finally had the seat...etc...off that could be removed...turned the garage lights off in the garage...shut the doors etc and started the tractor in pitch dark. I found the culprit when the wire was sparking and never had a problem since.....knock on wood. You might try this. Another thing I've heard, if you shipped this in a closed container, the connections develope a lot of corrison and this causes a problem too. Just make sure that the person who had it in New Hampshire didn't have this problem before you bought it.

 

I'm gonna just throw this out there. Are you sure about the quality of the fuses you are using? I've read of batches of imported fuses that are not up to spec that recently hit the market, one place mentioned by name was Harbor Freight, but they have shown up elsewhere. I mention this because you have had some fuses blow instantly, and some last a couple of minutes and some last longer. Doesn't mean that this is the culprit, because an intermittant short would do the same thing, but it might be worth checking into.