Today when i tried to start may 3010 mule all i got was a good strong click. I tried jumper cables but still got only a stong click. The PO said that he had replaced the starter a couple of times already, and the mule has less then 650 hours on it now. Are starters a commom problem? Three in that short period of time seem unusual. Could it be something else--perhaps the solinoid? Until today the starter has worked perfectly.

Is there a thread that details how to remove and replace the starter?

Doesn't seem to be a very active forum for the 3010 mule. So I will try removing the transmission cover and possibly the pulleys. However, I'm wondering if I can drill a hole in the back plate and get to the top bolt with a longer extension. If not, maybe I can remove just one pully and then drill a hole in the back plate. The hole can be closed with a rubber firewall hole plug.

 

Since no one seems able to reply, I thought I would at least update my situation since it might help somoone else in the future.
I tried to remove the starter from underneath without removing the converter and pully. Forget it, it's not worth the trouble. So I bought the pully removal tool ($15 on Amazon) and did it the right way. It is still a pain, but after doing it once it's pretty easy.

I ordered a new starter ($115 on Amazon) since even though I was getting power to the solenoid but nothtng to the starter. Just the strong "click" of the starter solenoid. Once I removed the old starter I put it on a test bench and it works perfectly, just like the new one. I went ahead and put the new one on and all I got was a "click" of the solenoid. Bummer. So, I removed the ignition wire plug from the solenoic and attached a wire with an aligator clip to the solenoid plug and touched the other end to the hot battery cable and the starter worked perfectly--just like on the test bench, I reattached the ignition wire plug making sure it was fully in and secure. Turned the key and it started perfectly--several times. Success--at least I thought it was success. Reinstalled everything and tuned the key and the starter worked perfectly--but the engine didn't fire up. I tried several times with not success and then the "click" returned and the starter no longer worked. (By the way, the reason the engine didn't fire is that I forgot to reinstall the spark plug caps. Oh well, by that time I was tired and in a hurry.)

The battery seems strong but I am going to have it tested tomorrow. I had a similiar problem with a Ford Tractor and was told--on a good tractor forum-- that I was probably losing voltage and/or amperage through the ignition system and needed to install an ignition by-pass switch. That's basically a separate solenoid which feeds power directly from the battery to the starter solenoid instead of going through the whole ignition system. I installed a Ford 12 volt solenoid and ran a wire directly from the battery cable to it and then to the starter solenoid. The wire from the ignition simply activates the Ford 12 volt solenoid which sends a straight shot from the battery cable to the starter solenoid. Problem solved.

I may do the same thing with the mule, but before doing that I am going to by-pass the gear leaver switch and see if that will work. If so, and I hope it is, I'll simply replace it.

 

Just in case anyone looks at this thread, I'll bring you up to date. The battery is good. The starter relay is good. I took the starter out today with the idea adding a by-pass switch. Instead I added a 2 foot extension to the wire coming from the ignition. For whatever reason it started. Over the next hour it started normally, so i put everything back together. It started a couple of times and then went, back to just clicking. Since everything had been cleaned and tightened, it occured to me that the only thing I had done since putting everything back together was to reinstall and clamp in the battery. So I removed all the battery connections and wires. There were 4 extra wires on the positive side all attached to the same stud. They looked good, but at this point I had nothing to lose so I took them all apart, cleaned them with electrical cleaner and a wire brush and got them all nice and shiney. Did the same thing on the negative side where there were 3 extra wires. Put it all back together, turned the key, and it started normally and has continued to start normally. They always say check the simple things first. I'll add to that don't assume anything. Those battery connections looked fine, but that may have been the only problem from the start. I probably should be ticked off, but I now have a new starter, a lot of knowledge, a pully puller and no fear of having to replace a belt. By the way, the original starter had been removed at some time and apparently the person did it without removing the pullies and had trouble putting it back in. They took a hack saw and sawed out the top part of the upper mounting hole to make it easier to get the bolt in, or at least that's my guess. My advice is to buy the pully puller--about $15 on Amazon-- and do it the right way. I found it to be easy, but I did have an impact wrench to get the pully bolts out. I wouldn't try it without and impact wrench.