JD 3120 Parking Brake Access

[MLW9110]

I am volunteering at a horse rescue farm. As a former aircraft mechanic I am taking over maintenance on a John
Deere 3120 tractor. It's running well and all the functions are working except the parking brake. The maintenance has been somewhat neglected though.

The parking brake lever is disconnected. I'm told that the tractor was driven with the parking brake engaged. An unknown person may have disconnected the linkage. There's no resistance when pulling up the brake handle. From reading the owner's manual, my understanding is that the parking brake lever is applied with the brake pedals depressed. The primary user of the tractor thought the parking brake lever only needed to be pulled up to engage it.
Brake pedals work fine.

I'm unable to get to the parking brake linkage from on top. I can't see where it connects but I haven't crawled under the tractor yet to see if that's where it's disconnected.

Can anyone describe how to get to the parking brake mechanism so I can reconnect and adjust it? Will I need to take the cover off of the parking brake lever side or can I get at it underneath the tractor? Would also like to verify that the brake lever operates as described in the owner's manual.

Thanks,
Mike
Bremerton, WA

 

[Zebrafive]

Thanks for volunteering, my daughter loves horses. I might not be of much help, but here goes:
Drawings are from JD parts.
I am guessing the park linkage hooks to the arm, key 7, highlighted in yellow. Brake pedal linkages, (guessing again), connect to arms, key 5 & 15.
Good luck with the repair!

 

[MLW9110]

Thanks Zebrafive! The diagrams help a lot. Can you share your source? I have a CD version of the service manual coming. Hopefully that will help. The tractor operators are using the bucket on the ground as a parking brake now. It seems unsafe to me.

 

[CoyPatton]

Thanks Zebrafive! The diagrams help a lot. Can you share your source? I have a CD version of the service manual coming. Hopefully that will help. The tractor operators are using the bucket on the ground as a parking brake now. It seems unsafe to me.

Use as a parking brake bring safe or not, it is always a good safety practice to lower the loader attachment and any implement if present on the 3PH.
One never knows when something in the hydraulics or mechanical will fail. It would terrible if anyone were near when the failure occurred.
On a related note, never work on/under an unsupported loader.

 

[Zebrafive]

Thanks Zebrafive! The diagrams help a lot. Can you share your source? I have a CD version of the service manual coming. Hopefully that will help. The tractor operators are using the bucket on the ground as a parking brake now. It seems unsafe to me.

www.jdparts.com If you sign up with a dealer you will get prices of parts at that dealer and the ability to order for dealership pickup.

 

[Smokeydog]

The Kubota B26 we have has several operators and operating with the parking brake on was a problem. Fixed by extending the parking brake handle and adding a parking brake on light.

Much more ergonomic intuitive.