B3200 parking brake failure

[SPMMD]

I went to put on the parking brake after leveling a pad for my son's basketball backboard, stepped hard on the brake, and as I pushed down on the lever it suddenly gave way. I don't have a shop manual but assume either the cable snapped or came loose at a connection point. Any hints or schematics out ther?

 

[powerpace]

Look at the ratchet and pawl mechanism. That can be out of alignment and not hold. Just takes a little bend in the right direction to fix. Fixed mine first day I had the tractor.

 

[Verticaltrx]

It's just gotten out of adjustment. The main cause for this is people pushing too hard on the lever itself. When anyone uses my tractor they think since it is a parking brake you have to jam it down really hard. "Push hard on the pedals, light on the lever" is what I tell people. As for fixing your problem, either a cotter pin fell out of the end of the linkage, or the pawl mechanism got pushed off center (from being pushed to hard.) Take a look under the tractor when operating the lever and you'll quickly find the problem as it is a very basic system. My guess is you'll have it fixed in a couple minutes without any cost.

 

[SPMMD]

So I should look underneath the tractor, not behind the panel with the brake lever?

 

[whistlepig]

Underneath the floor directly under the brake petals.

 

[s219]

Yeah, the ratchet/pawl are under the tractor. In fact, the pawl is welded to the brake pedal arm if I remember right.

 

[whistlepig]

It's very easy to see. You can bend down and see it. No need to crawl under the tractor. It's just a basic ratchet and pawl. Should be an easy fix.

 

[SPMMD]

Great! Later today or tonight I'll get under and hopefully fix the problem. If I can I'll post some pictures for the member that runs into this! Thanks for all the responses and advice!!!

 

[SPMMD]

So here is what I found ! The actuator rod is completely detached, who knows where the spring clip and washer went!!!!



Yes it is a paper clip! But it will work fine untill I replace it with the right sized cotter pin and washer! Whole repair less than 3 minutes, but I took my time and it took 2.5 minutes to find the paper clip!!!! Thanks again for the advice that made the repair so easy!!!!!!

 

[s219]

Glad you figured it out, and it was simple! Thanks for documenting the problem with pictures.