mow in reverse

[Joe W.]

I just bought a new Craftsman 17.5 hp, 42" lawn tractor that mows my lawn with ease. But it has this self appointed safety annoyance that stalls the engine if I put it in reverse with the blades engaged. High end mowers, hydrostatic types, mow in any direction as does my bigger zero turn mower. For some reason, this low cost mower is designed to make continual mowing more difficult. Is there a method to eliminate this stop/disengage blades/shift to reverse/backup/shift to forward/engage blades system?

 

[Jim Broughton]

It's a liability thing, recently we had a father back up over his little boy and the child's leg had to be amputated...this was on an older John Deere like mine , and even though the father was at fault, he still sued Deere Co., hence the requirement for reverse.
Sorry, but that's the way it is now.
Best of luck
Jim B.

 

[Joe W.]

Thanks for the information. It has been about 7 years since I bought a new mower and I didn't understand why the mower was designed to not mow in reverse.

 

[dixon boy RL]

On the new ones i sell there is a override position in the ignition switch. Also on some of them you had a position in the clutch switch that would allow overide by pulling it up further,I always did the clothe pin trick on those units. read your manual if it is new machine and I bet ther is a override position. Let me know if you find it or not

 

[oldtanker]

Some not all come with an override that allows you to push a button and then reverse with the deck engaged. My father in law has one like that. Takes a little getting used to and seems like a pain to have to push and hold that darn button while backing up.

It all stems from people refusing to accept responsibility for thier actions. It wasn't Deeres fault that father backed over his kid. It was the fathers fault. Now he sues Deere for A. monitary gain and B. to prove to himself that it wasn't his fault. Now Deere adds a new safety device that raises the price of the item but also has to be maintained. What gets me is if the guy had backed over his kid with his car he would have been held accountable. End of rant!

Rick

 

[greygoat]

I've got a Snapper, that had that feature. I
disconnected the wires after the first round of
using the new mower!

 

[Jeff]

My dad just bought a new mower that has a key on the dash that you turn when you engage the mower, then you can mow in reverse like normal. His old tractor (my new one) has the same thing with a key under the seat. The dealer he bought the new one from said that in the next couple of years, you will no longer have the option to mow in reverse. SIGH...

 

[Anonymous-0]

More than likely your ignition switch has a position that will allow you to mow in reverse.

 

[Joe W.]

I found an electric wire connection attached to the frame just under the forward/reverse lever. I unplugged the one wire from its connector and now I can mow in reverse.

 

[dixon boy RL]

yea that works to,sometimes you have to use jumper wire other times you can do what you did. as dealer i can not do that,but on personal machine has been done before.

 

[JT Britt]

With 1 wire splice this annoyance can be overridden,i have witnessed it.Thats all i can say.

 

[Butch Ga]

I have a sears dyt 4000 20hp and there is an override on the key switch for that on mine

 

[David G]

I think that is a standard now. My 7 year old JD has the same feature. The switch is now jumped out and works fine. I think it was more dangerous messing with the override than letting it mow in reverse.

 

[Don1000]

I too have a 42 17.5 craftsman tractor without the key override for mowing in reverse. if you find a way to override, could you let me know, or point me in the right direction. I hope no one runs over someone in forward or machine won't be able to mow in forward. We'll all have to buy goats.