Mike,

I have a GX335, and I can tell you that you are very very warm.

I figured it out. Thanks for helping me.

Could you send those instructions to me? I'm at cmikewil@frognet.net

Hey guys I just bought a GT235 and would like to bypass the PTO reverse safety feature, can someone email me the instructions on doing this?

Thanks, Kerry

OOP'S my email is heartlandlaser@yahoo.com

Could you send those instructions to me? I'm at sdwortman@comcast.net

Thanks...

Im glad all 15 of my tractors are old, so i dont have to deal with a RIO switch.
Kidd

I would also like the directions to by pass the safety switch of my GT235. My email is mbeedy@woh.rr.com

Ok, I hate to jump on top of a dogpile, but I'd like those instructions too. To relieve the burden on "like my yard", perhaps one of you guys who have already received the instructions could just forward them to me at passthegravy@hotmail.com.

As would I, for my GT235. deathkiller969@aol.com

As I have just purchased a 2003 GT235 the instructions to bypass the RIO would be much appreciated. Early thank to whomever can email them to me

macguy@insightbb.com

I'm assuming the RIO switch is for "no reverse with the mower blades turning".
Just remember what ya ask for when ya disconnect that switch. As ya watch yer grandson walking around on his wooden leg, because ya ran over him, mowing backwards!

If this would work on a JD X304 would you email me the instructions also?
Thanks

I am a firm believer in safety while mowing. I cringe when I see anyone with a child in their lap while mowing on a tractor. However, even with the RIO operable, you can still mow in reverse by pulling up on the pto button. I guess it is suppose to make you think while your pulling it. I don't know. I usually do it without thinking all the time as it has become a mindless part of my weekly grass cutting. BUT what I do make sure is that I KNOW WHERE ALL MY CHILDREN ARE when I'm mowing. And that would be under the supervision of my wife, where she makes sure they do not venture out in the yard while I'm on the tractor. Thereafter, they can play on the lawn as they please.

"Just remember what ya ask for when ya disconnect that switch. As ya watch yer grandson walking around on his wooden leg, because ya ran over him, mowing backwards!"

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to say something like that!

I would greatly appreciate if someone could send these instructions to mwaldvogel@deloitte.com

Well I've got strong OPinions on this subject and again my opinion, Kids SHOULD NOT BE in the yard when you mowing PERIOD. Not on the tractor, not pushing the toy mower behind, or even outside. It IS TOO DANGEROUS. Anybody thats dumb enough to let kids in the area while mowing asking for trouble anyway. I'm even cautious when people are out across the street. I never mow with the discharge pointing towards them or oncoming cars, or I wait till they go in.

My 4 year old rides on the tractor with me every time I cut the grass (with ear protection). It would be physically impossible for him to fall off in front of the tractor where he could get caught by the blades. There is about a one in a million chance that something bad could happen. We can't protect ourselves from everything.

Posted by waldvogelmj Zone5 WI (My Page) on Thu, Aug 28, 08 at 15:21

My 4 year old rides on the tractor with me every time I cut the grass (with ear protection). It would be physically impossible for him to fall off in front of the tractor where he could get caught by the blades. There is about a one in a million chance that something bad could happen. We can't protect ourselves from everything.
**********************************************************

The emergency rooms of local hospitals are where people with your mindset often end up. The sad part is that the party who needs the medical attention usually isn't the person holding the child but the child themself. The same holds true when it comes to defeating the safety switches. Every year, thousands of people end up in the hospital as a direct result of lawn mowers and lawn/garden tractors.

Try Googling "lawn mower injuries" and then explain to me why, in spite of the 652,000 hits relating to this topic, you think that you're smarter then everyone else? That's your child. His safety is paramount. Tractors have ONE SEAT for a reason. They're designed to have only one person on them. They aren't a toy nor a carnival ride.

Click on the link below and read how these injuries are on the rise. Every year, links are posted on this site that tell about someone backing over or running over a child.

If the unthinkable happens and your little boy gets hurt, tell me what you will say to your wife and your relatives while he's in surgery.

Here is a link that might be useful: injuries

I have personally witnessed what a child looks like after the blades have hit the child multiple times just because of similar thinking to waldvogelmj. One child had their intestines hanging out and their father was so hysterical they were of no use in helping the child. Even with safety switches, there is no way the blades can stop in time to save a child's tender skin when they have gotten under the mower deck. If any of you so choose to continue to ride your child on an active mower with the blades engaged, you deserve to be reported to the social services for child endangerment, and locked up under the jail for being such a bone head. It only takes a split second for a child to be out of your grasp and a bloody mess because of your thoughtlessness. How can anyone love their child that less? That is just beyond me. Rant off.

With the positioning of the RIO on the GT 235 I truely believe it makes things more dangerous. Siting in seat pull on switch and look behind you, chances are you cannot see anything behind the left rear tire. With RIOI disconnected I can swivel around and see everything behind me before starting to back up. Second children should not be in yard while you are mowing. If one enters yard you should keep constant monitor on position or better yet stop mower and tell them to play somewere else. Tell mom you are mowing if sho doesn't know, two is better than one. We are becoming a country that takes no responcibility for our actions, accidents do happen and someone does not have to be sued every time one happens. I believe plain and simple Deere put the RIO on to supress law suits, nothing more, nothing less.

Safety devices are usually mandated by a law. The law comes about because of injuries. When the same type of injury keeps happening with the same type of machine, then someone is hired to figure out how such injuries could have been prevented.

In order to have a level playing field for everyone that makes lawn/yard/garden tractors, a law gets passed that makes it mandatory for all manufacturers to install certain safety devices on their tractors. Emergency rooms often keep statistics on the injuries they treat and how those injuries happened. You might not like some of these safety devices but there is often sound reasoning behind having them there.

It wasn't that long ago that cars came with deep-vee'd steering wheels to help prevent people from dying due to impact with the actual steering column. Now, we have air bags to help absorb the impact. I don't see anyone yanking out their airbag equipped steering wheel and replacing it with one from a 1962 Ford just because that's the way they did it when they were younger.

Waldvogelmj,
If you truly think it's physically impossible for your four-year-old to fall under the blades, you're very naive. Your little boy will have just as much fun riding around the yard on your lap after the mowing is done, with the blades disengaged. Plus he won't be choking on pollen and dust.

There are two things I'm in 100% agreement with: 1) kids should be nowhere near a mowing lawn tractor, and 2) The RIO switch on the GT series probably doesn't do anything to promote safety. I've found myself in the same situation as Jimbo, where having one hand on the wheel and another on the switch limits your ability to twist around and clear the area. If you're backing up a long distance you can release the switch once you're moving, but it's usually no more than a few feet that I back up. I've also caught myself getting so programmed to pull the switch from muscle memory that I forget to even look behind me. So now it's nothing more than an inconvenience.

Too bad they don't have a laser safety switch (sourced from the garage door opener parts bin) which would kick off the electric PTO when something large passes through the rear tires, ditching the RIO for good. But I guess that wouldn't do much if you only partially ran over someone.

Best defense: keep the kids inside while mowing.

I have watched many different people mowing their lawns with an RIO switch activated. I have yet to see them look behind when activating the RIO switch prior to backing up. It just becomes something necessary to do in order to backup without the blades stopping. Kids still get run over by a family member backing out of their garage in a car. This is mainly because the child is too short to be seen when looking back before backing up. I'll bet 99% of people driving a car will look back before going into reverse, because they know how dangerous it is not to do so. People need to do the same thing 100% of the time when they back up with a tractor, with our without the blades turning. Anyone with children know how they like to walk behind someone riding a lawn mower just for the fun of it. It is surely is an accident waiting to happen. Charles Ranheim

I would like to disconnect the reverse safety switch too, but still maintain the seat safety feature as I feel that is important. I have used a "cloths pin" under the PTO switch when mowing, especially in large open areas and still keep the seat safety active. If someone could please e-mail me the instructions I would like to look them over, I have the GT 235 John Deere. I know how it is when kids want to help mow or ride, its hard to tell them no, but have given rides with out the blades turned on. Thanks, HOBBS

I just bought a GT235 and would like to bypass the PTO reverse safety feature, can someone email me the instructions on doing this?

jcjustus@j2racing.com

Could someone send me the directions for this too?

Thanks

bj196987@yahoo.com

I would like to have these instructions sent to me as well. Thanks!

I would like these instructions sent to me as well. Thanks!

could someone email me the directions too! Reverse switch drives me nuts. Have a snowblower and constantly have to back up. THANKS Email me please!! mooneyjw30@gmail.com

I would appreciate a copy of how to disconnect the RIO switch on a John Deere 235 lawn tractor

How can I make the pto for the blades work in reverse.It is a 2012 model.

crankgrinder - should be detailed instructions in yer owner's manual for such on what feature to use. If yer talking about defeating or over-riding the function, sorry.

I live way out in the country and there are no small children anywhere around, and my yard is very wooded and "technical" to mow (many obstacles). Therefore one of the first things I wanted to do, after getting my GT225, was to disable the RIO, and I figured out how, and it was simple.

But while investigating the how I was amazed at how much time and expense JD had gone to in engineering that RIO; they meant it to last as long as the tractor would, and it will.

But I would never loan that tractor to anyone, or sell it, with the RIO disabled. It is just as easy to enable as it was to disable. So don't do anything to it that you can't easily put back the way it was.

I hope you all remember this.

Can you help me with a gt235 Rio switch

scottguttenberg@yahoo.com

tom.hammel@comcast.net would greatly appreciate Deere LX280 RIO defeat instructions. The RIO switch has 6 contacts, is I recall correctly. Thanks!

strongly suggest you read the former portion of this thread and then not be surprised if you don't get many responses. Yer talking about a safety issue, legal beagles, the whole bit. Might want to look at another make of tractor that offers such a feature by design.....