Tractors: Part 3. Controls.

     This will be the last installment about tractors on this site. It concerns the driver, and moreover, the controls. Without the controls none of the other parts can go. I hope you've read the first two parts, because some things may not make sense otherwise.

     This is the view of the inside of a typical somewhat new tractor. I took this picture from the step. When you sit in the seat. To your front is the steering wheels and pedals, to your right is the control panel.

     Here is the control panel. I have it divided into areas, as you can see. (Remember: clicking the image will give you a larger view.) On the left is the "gear shift" area. These levers control the transmission and throttle. This tractor has 4 ranges (the top lever) with 4 speeds each (the second from the top lever) making a total of 16 working speeds. The third lever down makes the tractor go forward or in reverse at any of the speeds. And last but not least is the throttle. The bottommost lever sets how much gas is given to the engine and, for the most part, takes place of the gas pedal your car has.
     The central area is where one would control the hydraulics of the tractor. The top three levers control the flow in the hoses plugged into the remote connectors. If no hoses are plugged in, they don't do anything. The bump on the bottom of this box is controls the three-point hitch. It has a slider that causes the hitch to raise up and down and there are also some fine tuning options on there.
     Just to the right of that is the PTO switch. This engages the PTO, as I'm sure you've guessed.
     The rest of the knobs are just luxuries. There's the air conditioner/heater knobs, a lighter and an ash tray. They're mostly just post-modern decadence and aren't necessary to run the tractor.

     This is the forward view from the driver's seat of the tractor. The most obvious part is the steering wheel. You steer with it, but if you want to honk the horn you have to press in the turn signal lever behind it. (Many tractor horns fill up with dirt and will only make a pathetic little "squonk" or no noise at all) Opposite the turn signal is the windshield wiper control. Behind that is a display which will show you all kinds so things including but not limited to: Your speed, the RPM, what parts of the tractor are running, and lots of statistics about the tractor. In this picture you can also see the light knob and hazard light switch, (on the left behind the turn signal) the key in the ignition, and the pedals.

     These are the pedals. The one on the left is the clutch. On the right is the brakes. There is one for each of the rear wheels. This allows you to turn in a very tight radius by slowing or stopping only one wheel. On the left brake you can see a small tab sticking up. If you want, you can link the brakes together by flipping it over towards the right brake where it will fall in a slot connecting the two brake pedals.

     Pictured here is an older but similar tractor. The controls are all on the steering column. The hydraulic controls are on the left of the steering wheel and the gear shift is on the right. The long lever on the very right is for the PTO. Most of the luxuries are gone entirely and the display is somewhat simpler. I'm not really sure how you run the tractor below, but as you can see, tractors have always been complicated.

     The purpose of this three-part post on tractors is to lay a basis.  From this, hopefully the reader can more easily understand future posts. Maybe it was enjoyable too. One can only hope.