Paking brake light coming on?

boomer632 · May 27, 2011

New LS R4041 EZ. I notice when I apply the brakes, the parking brake light on the dash illuminates. I have tried to manipulate the parking brake lever up and down and the light still comes on when I apply the foot brakes. The lever is down as far as it will go. Anybody else have this problem? Any suggested solutions?

kpbeddin · May 27, 2011

Hey Boomer; mine does it too. You are correct, the manual does not mention it. I believe it works off of a switch tied to the brake pedals (same as a brake light switch on a car) and pulling up the parking brake engages the brakes and also activates this same switch to do its intended job. As we know, the drawback here is that it also activates when we apply the brake during normal operation. Although it was initially confusing and alarming, I have now gotten over it and try to think of it as efficient design. It seems like someone else may have posted about this sometime back in the old days before we achieved LS specific forum status.

joemd11 · May 27, 2011

My R3039 works the same way. Takes a little getting used to. I keep thinking that I forgot to release the parking brake. If you set the parking brake and get off the tractor while it is running, then it is sitting there with the brake lights on.

Gary Fowler · May 28, 2011

The parking brake light should not come on when using the foot brake if the hand brake is fully off. I would check with the dealer to correct this. My tractor brake light only is on when the hand brake is applied and only if the key is on. There may be some inherent model flaw with the microswitch that is moved with the foot brake. Might just need to reroute a wire or something.

kpbeddin · May 28, 2011

Does anyone happen to know where the brake switch is located? I looked in what I thought were the obvious places; even removed one of the plastic panels under the instrument panel but stll couldn't locate it.

rocknrod · May 29, 2011

Mine does also. I think it just works that way for the smaller tractors maybe.

crankshaft21 · May 29, 2011

I have a 2006 montana 4320, and the brake light does the same. When I press the foot brake the light comes on. This may be just the way they are. The only problem is , that when you release the brakes, foot or park and the light stays on , then there is a problem.

kpbeddin · May 29, 2011

crankshaft21 said:
I have a 2006 montana 4320, and the brake light does the same. When I press the foot brake the light comes on. This may be just the way they are. The only problem is , that when you release the brakes, foot or park and the light stays on , then there is a problem.

No doubt, this is the way they it works since the mechanical linkage is common between the parking brake and the foot brakes (on my tractor anyway). This topic just caused me look and notice that the light no longer comes on so I spent a few minutes trying to figure out where the switch is as I expect that it is either bad or misaligned. I may do some more looking next time I feel like tinkering, but it's no big deal since I typiically use my toothbar as a parking brake.

Sublifer · May 31, 2011

rocknrod said:
Mine does also. I think it just works that way for the smaller tractors maybe.

Agreed. Mine does it too

LittleBlueTractor · Jun 2, 2011

There is no brake indicator on S3010 instrument cluster, but I wish there was. Not sure how the hand brake operates on the other models, but on mine it's merely a notched handle that holds down the brake pedals. I forgot I had the hand brake set once and didn't even notice it in in low range and 1st gear. Didn't get very far (maybe 5-7 feet) before I did finally notice, but I could have went much further had I been distracted by something. As I have few slopes I rarely use the foot brakes unless I'm close to something like a fence or trees, and I use use the hand brake even less.