I have an old (1980) sears 12 hp lawn tractor at my summer home that lost its brakes all of a sudden. I do not have the model number or anything but it is the old style gray sears tractor that you see all the time. It has a 4 speed manual tranny. When you push in the brake/clutch, it does not stop the tractor. It shifts fine so it doesn't seem like the clutch is affected. Like I said it happened all of a sudden one day. Can anyone clue me in a bit on how the brakes on these old tractors work and maybe what to look for? I do not have access to it except on weekends. I am not a mechanic but I can generally understand enough to get by. If there is a link to a manual or something that would be great.

Thanks

You may contact your local sears store and speak to one of their "older" repair men to get an idea of how to obtain the model #s. you could look underneath and check for the nut on a kind of a "s" shaped disk, that is in front of , or to the outside of the trans, and tighten this nut a couple of turns at a time until you regain brakes.

Thanks for your reply. So I take it from your answer that the brake mechanism is more of a trans brake than a wheel brake? How does it work? Are there pads that contact the trans drive shaft or something?

Thanks