Simplicity Blade Clutch Won't Engage

I have a 15 year old Simplicity Landlord tractor with a 16 HP Briggs Vanguard engine. The tractor has an electromagnetic PTO (blade) clutch that no longer engages. If I apply 12V directly to the blade clutch I hear a nice solid “clunk”. So I thought the PTO switch was bad. I took the switch to the dealer and compared the open/close pattern of the terminals with a new switch. There was no difference, so apparently my switch is not bad. I checked some of the harness wiring and could find no problems. When I pull on the PTO switch there’s a warning light on the dashboard that turns on to indicate the blades have been engaged. So the light is getting the signal, but not the clutch itself.

What else can I check? Does anyone have a wiring diagram for this tractor? The model number of the tractor is 1692784.

 

Seat switch??????????????

 

I have the seat switch bypassed with a paper clip jumpered across the two contacts of the connector that is supposed to connect to the seat switch. Yeah, I know, my bad. The dash light that signals that the seat is occupied is illuminated. I'll take another look at it though. I noticed the paper clip has rusted a bit.

 

....one of the two wires from the electromagnetic clutch pulled partially of the plastic connector. Not so much that you could see it dangling, but enough to prevent an electrical connection from being made. I mixed up some JBWeld and epoxied the spade contact back in place in the connector and I'm back in business. I think these cheap plastic connectors just degrade over time. I had the same thing happen another time.

 

Glad you found the problem! Now get that lawn mowed before the neighbors break out the torches & pitchforks