one possibility is a "ground" wire this is connected to the frame, but does not have continuity. On some of these, the ground wire was attached to the frame near the right rear tire. Locate this wire and tighten the attaching bolt about 1/8 of a turn. See what happens.

Thanks for the quick reply unfortunately this is the under the hood battery style and I have already check the ground using a jumper cable to the frame and have pulled the wire apart and cleaned the contacts all up well.

YOu might want to try mytractorforum, then go to craftsman or sears forum, I forget which, those guys know those model numbers intimately.

Bless you for actually providing the 917 number so one can look at the correct schematic.;)

It kind of sounds like 2 different problems.

1. Is the fuse blown? If the headlights come on with the engine NOT running, the fuse is good. No lights and you aren't getting 12V to the key switch. Once running, the alternator supplies power to the "other side" of the key switch and lights, fuel solenoid etc. will then work. Just no battery charging.

2. Check the connector/plug on the PTO switch for good connections.

These are a couple FREE things to check.

So sorry for not responding guys thanks for your quick responses. we got hammered with snow up here and this machine is what I would normally use to blow it so I was stuck finding another method. And am just now getting back to being able to troubleshoot. I believe I may have 2 burned out headlights so I'll have to dig my volt meter out and check there. If I can't find a fuse/power wire issue I will let you know. I can tell you it looks like a clean untampered with wiring harness. And I did throw a PTO switch at it with no change

I guess I should also state that this machine was working perfectly blowing snow and I parked it in the garage and the problem started immediately following that shut down. As I tried to start it again immediately.

But if there are any common water penatration issues that could cause this I would say there is a higher chance of that.

Also check the connections at the key switch-

Unplug/plug the connector a couple times to "clean" them.

The fact it DOESN'T turn off with the key switch makes me suspect those connections. The kill wire is grounded with the key OFF to kill spark. It's NOT being grounded, since it continues to run

Also, the carb fuel solenoid also isn't being shut off & grounded as it should be.

If you look at the schematic, the Kill wire is "M" of the key switch.

There is a "truth table" in the lower left of the schematic that shows what connections are made (or not) in the various key positions.