Wow you guys are great. Out of curiosity I tried the battery voltage when I turned the key, nothing changed. I then began removing the cables and sanding/wiping clean all connections. I carefully re installed the connectors (thanks wheelhorse) and made sure everything was nice and snug (not over tightened but tight). I crossed my fingers and turned the key and she came to life instantly! It might be my imagination but it seems to start faster and run stronger (Briggs twin cylinder engine if that makes any difference). All in all for a gift tractor the ol' Simplicity is serving me well (yes itÂs the 85-85 model). I'll continue to baby her as my father in law did (over 1500 hours on the mower and it doesn't use a lick of oil and has not been rebuilt). Yeah he is good to his equipment and I have all of his habits. Well I'll stop rambling, I sincerely thank you guys as now I can begin to enjoy my vacation without worrying about getting the mower going in time for the next mowing. I sure do like the Simplicity!

Step one: Answer this question....in taking off the REAR wheels, did you get them off by removing 4 lug bolts/nuts? If your wheels mount to an axle flange with lug bolts/nuts and that is how you took them off.......then you did not disturb an axle key. On the other hand, if you removed the REAR wheels by removing a "keeper device" (e-clip, snap ring, or cotter pin) along with a large washer from the end of the axle shaft and then "slipped" the wheels off said axle shaft, you might have lost a "key". If your axle and wheel fits this description check as follows: Jack up one of your rear wheels so that it is not touching the ground (leave the opposite wheel firmly on the ground). Release parking brake. Now, try to turn the raised wheel with your hands. If the wheel turns easily, observe the end of the axle shaft and see if it is turning with the wheel or if it is standing still while the wheel rotates around it. If the axle shaft remains still, but the wheel turns, you have at least one wheel (and it is this wheel) without a key. If the wheel and axle shaft turn together, have someone turn this wheel while you watch the axle shaft on the opposite wheel. If the axle shaft turn inside this opposite wheel, this is the wheel missing it's key. If you have lost both keys, both wheels would spin around on the axle shafts. If you actually are missing just one of the keys, you can pull the wheel off the "good side" and take the remaining key to match up (go to auto parts store, hardware store or lawn equipment service). You might get lucky and find the key that fell out. Oh, the key is a square bar looking object about 1/4" or 5/16" on the sides and should be around 2 inches long. Good luck.

That is perfect! I'm not claiming to be Sunamita, but on another thread I noted a similar issue for me--that for me, it was a battle not always of physical clutter, but I had to MINDFULLY say no to my own whims, hobbies, ADD or whatever it is, regarding activies, and maybe even more the complexity of activities, or the expectation of what they consist of, and focus on a few things, because it was the multiplicity of roles and activities that brought with it clutter of things and of time-consumption. I was finding I was taking on too many different personae, for want of a better word; at least, too many simultaneously. I had to think, I could do that some day maybe, but if I start to do that now, I will just get even more jumbled up and I will not enjoy the other things. But, these are always beckoning and I have to really fight to identify priorities and say no to MYSELF. It takes a while, and exercising the discipline, before you can see the payoff so that it is not experienced as denial of pleasures or of your own "well-rounded person" but is savoring fewer experiences and things more fully. I have to apply this to every activity, from work (good enough and not perfection, primarily in paperwork-type stuff), cooking, wardrobe, gardening, and more. Each of these areas I tend to expand beyond what I can reasonably handle (meaning, in retrospect, I really did not want or need to do it that way, as opposed to something you're really glad you did a certain way) and to make it more complex. I think one can learn this skill with determination, but I think some people are born with it and wonder what is all the fuss. Simplify, indeed!

2 things come to mind: either the replacement solenoid was defective off the shelf or is not getting adequate ground to actuate solenoid coil enough to complete start circuit.. Is the replacement solenoid a factory OEM direct replacement part or other?