Opps, parking brake

s219 · Jun 17, 2012

You're not the only idiot -- I finished pulling over a tree with the brake set. Between the load of the tree and being in low, it didn't sound/feel any different than usual. I didn't even notice until I was reversing to put slack back in the rope. Boy did I feel stupid. I had set the brake to hop off the tractor and tickle the back-cut with my saw, and then plumb forgot about the brake.

kco · Jun 17, 2012

s219 said:
You're not the only idiot -- I finished pulling over a tree with the brake set. Between the load of the tree and being in low, it didn't sound/feel any different than usual. I didn't even notice until I was reversing to put slack back in the rope. Boy did I feel stupid. I had set the brake to hop off the tractor and tickle the back-cut with my saw, and then plumb forgot about the brake.

The effect of leaving the brake on seems much less obvious on an HST compared to a gear tractor, particularly in low range. I also notice I'm more likely to make the mistake in situations when strongly concentrating on the task at hand, like you describe in making sure a tree falls the correct way.

dstig1 · Jun 17, 2012

It's pretty rare now, but I did it all the time when I first got it. Especially in Low range, you can drive off without realizing it, even if it is set hard. It doesn't help that I also wear earmuffs all the time as I hate loud noise and I'm typically using a chainsaw when I'm off the tractor, so I need them on in any case. You can hear extra whine if you drive off with the brake set, but it isn't enough to come through the muffs. Like others, I have got in the habit of always setting the brake and always releasing it. Still screw up once in a while, but it tends to be quickly fixed. The light on the dash is not any where near bright enough to be noticed in the daytime.

buck12 · Jun 17, 2012

kco said:
The effect of leaving the brake on seems much less obvious on an HST compared to a gear tractor, particularly in low range. I also notice I'm more likely to make the mistake in situations when strongly concentrating on the task at hand, like you describe in making sure a tree falls the correct way.

I leave the brake set with a gear. Imagine how often I would leave the brake set if I had HST

MHarryE · Jun 17, 2012

Back in the 70's in the combine business we were sued by a few farmers who had left their parking brake set when they started driving and burned their combines, so for a model year change we changed from a small but bright red light on the side console to a very large flashing red parking brake light on the front console. The light was a standard truck trailer tail light - pretty big. At the product introduction I sat in with a group of major customers and got to watch the new commercial Marketing had released for dealers to air in their areas. There was a 5 second view of a combine combining through the grain at the camera, high ground speed, parking brake light flashing like a railroad crossing lamp. Loved the change to construction equipment. On our hydrostatic when you set the parking brake it dumps the control pressure from the hydro so the hydro won't come on stroke unless the parking brake is off. In addition we also have a bright red light on the brake button so when you press on the pedal and it won't move you will notice the brake light and hopefully won't call the dealer to come fix.