"Click-click-click" Starter Fix

[weldguy]

The starter on my 2001 BX2200 has been acting up for the past few months. After checking various possible causes for the "click-click-click-click-click-start" I concluded I had a dead spot on the commutator or armature. Kubota wants an inexcusable amount for a starter, so I took it to a local electrical rebuild shop. He has many years experience working on all kinds of starters and generators and is the "go to" guy for most every local repair shop.


He ran a quick bench test on my starter and said there was nothing wrong with it. Then, with a smile on his face, told me John Deere has a solution to my problem. Apparently, over the years, the current eventually reaching the starter solenoid after passing through the ignition switch, interlock switches and starter relay becomes weak. J-D has come up with a "kit" to boost the current to the solenoid. A pretty simple design, another relay is added at the starter to pick off a strong 12 volts from the heavy red wire at the starter motor when current is sent to the solenoid.


Still smiling, he said I only need to step up the the parts counter at the J-D dealer and say, "Lester sent me." LOL... I felt like I was in an old gangster movie at the J-D dealer, but the counter person didn't need any more information than that to walk from the back room with my "Starter Booster" kit. They sell A LOT of them.


The P/N is AM107421 and will cost about $50 plus tax. It's a plug-and-play install in the wires going to the solenoid. The difference in the sound of my starter engagement is AMAZING. Although this fix was for my BX2200, the kit will work on a variety of applications.

 

[D2Cat]

Yep, it's been around for years. Even been discussed on this forum, but it's difficult to find what you don't know you're looking for!

 

[Henro]

I did the same conversion on my BX2200 several years ago.

Afterwards I concluded that one could likely use just about any 12 volt relay and accomplish the same result. However, the JD relay is special and will close on voltage as low as something like 8 volts, and stay closed until voltage drops below around 4 volts. So while it costs more, it gives the ultimate performance in this application.

I mounted the relay on the frame rather than the engine, to isolate it somewhat from engine vibration. Has worked flawlessly...

 

[Dave_eng]

I used a headlight relay 5 years ago mounted right on the starter to minimize wiring.

The solenoid trigger wire slipped right unto the headlight relay terminal.

Dave

 

[BruceP]

I used a headlight relay 5 years ago mounted right on the starter to minimize wiring.

The solenoid trigger wire slipped right unto the headlight relay terminal.

Dave

I have degree in electronics and was able to determine that the 'chain' of safety-switches was dropping too much voltage under load to proplerly trigger the starter-relay.

To fix this, I KEPT the safety circuit inplace and installed "headlight relay" near the starter to trigger the starter.

Now, I have all the safetys working as they should but they only pick the newly installed "headlight relay". It is the "headlight relay" which handles the work work of triggering the starter.

 

[Henro]

Bruce,

That is what the above fix does exactly.

Welcome to the club!

 

[motorhead]

If you have the Nippon Denso style starter like this, https://www.jensales.com/products/kubota-bx2200-tractor-starter.html
The starter solenoid heavy amperage contacts are replaceable as well as the plunger with the copper washer. Dodge cummins powered pickups have the same ND type starter and I have rebuilt many of them by replacing the contacts, plunger and cleaning and regreasing the motor bearings. The MOTOR part of the starter lasts forever because it is a gear reduction type starter. It's the contacts that usually go bad. If your starter has the round solenoid or even the ND starter and all contacts are good then buy a SEALED Bosch style cube relay and wire it up close to the starter. There is 4 and 5 blade relays, either will work. get at least a 40 amp relay. The relay has numbers on it that I will tell you what to hook up where. The #30 blade, make up a #10 or #12 gauge wire that hooks to the #30 blade on the relay and the other end hooks at where the BATTERY POSITIVE cable hooks to the starter solenoid. Disconnect from the starter solenoid on the starter the about 10 gauge wire that the key switch controls at the start position and hook it to the #85 blade on the cube relay. The #86 blade gets a #16 wire hooked to it and the other end of the wire gets attached to a solid grounding point on the engine or frame. The #87 blade, take a #10 or #12 wire attach it to the 87 blade and the other end goes on to the engine starter solenoid where you removed the factory wire to hook it to #85 blade. Secure the relay, most you can buy with a mounting tab, to a solid point on the frame, sheet metal, somewhere close to the starter so that the factory starter solenoid wire doesn't have to be spliced and lengthened.
I have done dozens of these on 6 and 12 volt VW's, My old 1976 Honda 550 and my old Mercedes 240D. Another thing to do to help with voltage loss is to "Make and Break" several times any and all wire loom plugs from the ignition switch, safety switches clutch switch is applicable. By doing that, where you disconnect all connections and re-connect them, you make better electrical contact and reduce voltage and amperage loss due to poor connections. Here is a relay with a plug and harness: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-PIECE-50...H0AAOSwQvhZgMvG:sc:USPSFirstClass!93422!US!-1

 

[zload]

John Deere relay survivor here...

It made my JD loving dad feel warm and fuzzy knowing my Kubota was starting with the assistance of big green... not sure he liked to admit it but there were many times he chose to get on my Kubota instead of his JD

 

[thedevilyoulove]

Looks like Amazon has them!

https://www.amazon.com/John-Deere-A...836&hvtargid=pla-761938486072#customerReviews

 

[motorhead]

That is not a bad price. It is the same relay setup and wired the same as my post.

 

[D2Cat]

You can buy them for about $18 on Ebay, used that folks removed from machines they are partings. There's not much to break on one!

 

[ehenry]

I have to chime in on this.....I've been chasing the click click no crank culprit for a couple days on my old 2103 hour B7300. After reading posts here about the issue and cleaning every electrical connection going to the starter, ground, ignition switch and filling the ignition with electrical contact cleaner and working it back and fourth I got the tractor to crank about every third turn of the switch. I installed the JD relay and it starts every time now. I picked the relay up for $42 at my local JD place due to it being old inventory and my old running buddy is parts manager there.

 

[whitetiger]

You can order this from Amazon for $6.45 and add you own wire ends.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51UpCXPO5RL._SX569_.jpg

 

[kopeck]

New member here but I used to have this same exact problem with a Cub Cadet 1512D (Cub with a Kubota D600B engine, same thing as the older CC 782D). It bothered almost from new and I went though the wiring multiple times, every connection was clean and I couldn't find one item in the start/safety circuit that was an obvious problem.

What I did was used a solenoid. Triggered it from the end of the start/safety circuit and used it to feed battery power to the starter solenoid. Never had an issue again.

I remember going on one of the CC forms to report my fix and the internet being the internet most of the guys said I fixed nothing, I just applied a band-aid.

What I did find after some more trouble shooting a few years later was that the glow plugs got turned on when the switch was in the start position (this was the old turn the key backwards to turn on the glow plug style setup). I feel like there was just so much draw going though the factory harness that the voltage dropped and the start solenoid never had a great chance. Band-Aid or not, it worked.

K

 

[ehenry]

I"m back to the same thing....click click click after the relay install. It worked like a champ for a day now back to the same thing.

 

[lugbolt]

Have used hundreds of the AM107421 kits. Kubota has the exact same kit, but it's priced at about $100 as I recall. Just as easy to run 2 blocks down the road and load up on about 5 more JD kits.

For those that want to save a buck, all it really is--is a 30 Amp 87 (not 87A but 87A will work you won't use the center wire) relay with matching relay socket & wires. Normally they can be had online for like $10 but then you'll have to pick up a few terminals to connect it's harness to your tractor/mower/whatever. Take your pick, crimp or solder & wrap, doesn't matter, they both work and last a LONG time.

What generally happens is that the key switch and/or wiring will degrade over time and the voltage that is applied to the starter's "trigger" wire will be way down, usually less than 10V. When that happens it just clicks. There's not enough juice (voltage) to get the solenoid to engage all the way, just partially which is why you hear a click (or sometimes just a clack). Adding a relay takes the load off of the harness and key switch and puts it on the relay and it's wire, but boosts the low voltage to the solenoid.

 

[pritcharddesign]

I’m having this problem with my ZG127S. I wonder if the part would work on that. Thoughts?