How to Start a Craftsman Riding Lawn Mower With No Key

Sears manufactures Craftsman tools and power equipment. Among the company's many products are hand tools, power tools and lawn care equipment, including riding lawn mowers. If you have a Craftsman riding mower and have misplaced the key, you can either attempt to replace the key or simply bypass the ignition switch altogether. This can be done by making an electrical connection between the starter and the solenoid.

Rubber gloves
Wrench
Battery post cleaner
Booster cables

Instructions

- 1
  Put on rubber gloves.
- 2
  Lift the hood on your Craftsman riding mower.
- 3
  Disconnect the wires from the battery posts with a wrench, starting with the negative (black) cable, then disconnecting the positive (red) cable.
- 4
  Clean the battery posts on your Craftsman riding mower's battery with a battery post cleaner, a metal tubular tool with wire bristles inside.
- 5
  Reconnect the positive (red) cable, then the negative (black) cable after cleaning both battery posts.
- 6
  Connect one end of the black cable from a set of booster cables to the negative post on the battery, then connect the other end to the metal frame of your Craftsman riding mower.
- 7
  Connect the red cable from the booster cables to the positive post on the battery. Grasp the free end of the same red booster cable and sit down in the operator's seat. Hold the free end of the cable in your hand against the positive or red end of the Craftsman mower's starter and allow the engine to turn over.
- 8
  Stay seated, lean forward and disconnect the red booster cable from the battery, then disconnect the black booster cable and close the hood.

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