Hi Nancy, I am just a home owner with a 1/2 acre lawn. It looks like you have quite a large property that requires, and indeed has quite an investment in machinery. One thing that I found useful is this web-site. http://www.lawnserviceforum.com/index.php They have a discussion area "Commercial Equipment Discussions" that various professionals talk about mowers, tractors etc and the pro's and cons. They have quite a bit of history as well, so you can usually get a good feel of what equipment is good for what type of lawn. Hope this help. Warmest regards, Mike.

It is possible that you have 2 different issues. It is hard to tell from your description if you are saying that the wind down noise is the noise of the starter running and if it is, is it running w/o the key switch activated. Solenoids are the most likely cause for allowing the starter to run on- but not the only one. They are not typically a fuse blower- but could be. On a 4 post solenoid one of the 2 small wires supplies a ground and the other 12 volts when the key switch is activated. If I am assuming something I shouldn't, please elaborate on what you believe the noise is.

Have a helper sit on the seat and put the tractor in gear and try to drive while you observe the end of each axle shaft at the wheel. If you see one of the axle shafts spinning inside the wheel hub, the one that is spinning is missing its axle key. The key is shaped like a small bar of metal maybe 1/4" square and about 2" long. Concentrate on the "key issue" and forget about the magneto. The only thing you have done that is related to your described symptoms would be the axle key. Look all around where you removed the wheel to see if you can find the key. If you transported the wheel in the trunk of a car or the bed of a pick up truck..........go back and see if it fell out in transit. If it fell out where the tire was fixed there may be a slim chance that the person found it and is saving it for you. There is also a chance I might win at Powerball.

Probably still carb but you might check the "static governor" setting. Loosen the clamp holding the gov. arm to gov. shaft coming thru the engine block, turn the carb throttle butterfly shaft to wide open, turn the gov. shaft as far as it will go in the direction and re-tighten the clamp. Walt Conner