[guest]

what is the little peddle that is by my right heel when setting on the seat. It seems to push down a little but nothing happens. my tractor is a ym1810 yanmar. thanks

[Brand]

Hi
That is going to be your differential lock pedal. It is designed to lock your rear wheels together to give you extra traction. Yanmar tractors (as well as pretty much every other tractor) use an open differential that really only puts power to the rear tire that spins the easiest.

If you jacked up one rear tire and put the tractor in gear- only that tire that was in the air would spin (don't try this or you might run over yourself). The same happens if one tire was stuck in a mud puddle, for example. In order to get better traction, you depress that pedal and both rear wheels will be forced to spin together and give you better traction.

So why don't tractors always have the rear wheels locked? When the rear wheels are locked the tractor gets extremely hard to turn and will tear up the ground when you do. Trying to turn on a surfacce like asphalt will put enormous stress on the drive components and can cause damage as well as excessive tire wear.

Be sure to NEVER engage the differential lock when the wheels are spinning. Always let the wheels come to a complete stop and then engage. If you engage the differential lock when one tire is spinning, it can create a huge shock load on the internal drive components and something will break. This is usually the brake pinion shaft in the Yanmar YM series tractors and the rear ring gear in the Yanmar 'F' series tractors.