Bert,
As I have a Yardman, I assumed the parking brakes would be the same, but I guess they aren't. My parking brake is applied by pressing the brake pedal all the way down and then moving the 'speed' lever down to the "parking brake' position. All that does is block the brake pedal from coming back up. This merely applies the brake and holds it in the 'on' position. Depressing the brake pedal and then moving the 'speed' lever up into any other position releases the brake.
In the underneath pictures, the brake rod is that black rod on the extreme left of the picture that runs all the way back to the brake itself, which is a tiny sort of 'disc' brake. Pulling on that rod is what applies the brake,
There is something here I'm not understanding. I'd like to see the parking brake control on this Yardman before I can figure out what is really going on.
Roger B