Disappointment in Troy-Bilt pony 7 Speed Riding Lawn Mower, a guide to Solenoid Replacement

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Being a property owner means lawn upkeep and especially in my case where the property is 1.10 acres and is of Michigan topography. The property has a lot of small hills, trees, and mud spots so a riding lawn mower big enough to keep up is paramount.

After my pulley broke on my White GT-2055 and not being able to find a replacement, I had to resort to a new riding tractor, and one big enough to handle the yard. Obviously a brand new tractor was out of the equation considering they can cost $3,000 + now days.

After searching Facebook Market place for well over a month, I landed on the Troy-Bilt 7 Speed Pony. Having operated a lawn mower junkyard in the past and considering that the 7 speed pony is relatively new, you can actually still go purchase them at family farm and home / lowes / etc., I decided to purchase the used tractor. Additionally, a newer tractor will have more parts available online. My White GT-2055, despite being a good tractor, has limited parts still available online due to it's age.

Unfortunately by the time I found a tractor the grass became very tall, however to my surprise the troy-bilt 7 speed tractor handled it very well despite the grass length, yards size, the tractor's deck size and the size of the 15.5 horse power briggs and stratton engine. I was kind of surprised how much power the little tractor has.

By the time I was able to get the troy-bilt purchased my property's grass length was well over my waist. To my surprise the troy-bilt mowed through it very well with the deck all the way up despite the small 15.5 horse power engine size.

While the tractor worked great at first it didn't take long to start breaking down. Supposedly it's made to handle up to 2 acres at a time.. As of this post I have replaced the PTO cable and had a solenoid stop working. Fortunately, the tractor is relatively new and parts are plentiful on Amazon. The choice for solenoid location is a massive disappointment.

Signs of a bad Solenoid

Clicking sound coming from solenoid and starter not kicking on when ignition is turned on. A clicking sound can also be a bad or drained battery.

You can differentiate between having a dead battery or bad solenoid by using a screw driver to short out the two poles on the solenoid. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that the solenoid is in a lousy location on the Troy Bilt pony.

Solenoid Location

The solenoid is under the seat, under the battery, bolted to the rear wall of the tractor itself. It's virtually impossible to get a screw driver into place to test the solenoid unlike older models where the solenoid was right under the hood.

Bad Solenoid Mitigation Strategy

Having operated a lawn mower junk yard in the past, I happened to have an old solenoid laying around. Unfortunately it either didn't work or it's the wrong type of solenoid as it only has one ignition post where as the troy-bilt pony's solenoid has two (2) ignition wires coming from the ignition itself.

It's important to pay attention to what solenoid you are purchasing online. There are several after market solenoids on the market and the correct one has a female thread in one side of the mounting plate and a peg on the other side. It only requires one bolt.