Will not turn over with key will strat f unplug and bypass

I am usually very good at figuring these out. I picked up a 50'' 0 turn Troy bilt with a 25 Kohler courage eng for a great price .Eng would not start so got it home and did some trouble shooting. Battery dead installed new nothing at the key bypassed key can jump from starter solenoid orange wire. Carb flooding needle stuck open rr carb cleaned and adj float level bench test fine. I changed the oil and plugs and started right up with bypassing the electrical harness. Back traced power from key I have ignition signal at the hour meter but nothing from there the park brake light stays illuminated when key turned to start position. Tested switch function after eng started I can plug it back in and eng will stay running until I shut it off and try to restart.
I have power at the orange wire from the ignition switch to the hour meter but nothing from there. Anyone have any ideas where to go next.

Both steering arm safety's work. Engage switches both side eng will die.
Seat safety works blades will not engage until pressure on seat.

There are 2 switched for the parking brake the top one doesn't seem to do anything.
The PTO will engage and disengage when running.

To make it run I unplug the main harness and jump it at the starter.
To shut it down I plug the harness back in and turn the key off.
The weird part is after it starts I can plug the harness back in and everything seems to work as it should no flashing park light all systems are a go.

Will the hour meter cause it not to start and run ?

Thanks guy hope someone can help.

Will not turn over with key will strat f unplug and bypass