Parking brake system for a lap bar controlled zero turn radius mower

1. A parking brake system for a lawn maintenance vehicle, the lawn maintenance vehicle including a pair of opposing lap bars for independently controlling movement of a pair of rear wheels, said parking brake system comprising:

an actuation assembly attached to one of said lap bars, said actuation assembly includes a rotatable push arm and a rotatable pedal arm, said push arm is spaced apart from said pedal arm when said push arm is in a disengaged position and said push arm is in contact with said pedal arm when said push arm is in an engaged position;

a stop assembly operatively connected to said actuation assembly, said stop assembly including a rotatable pawl selectively engageable with a parking gear, said parking gear operatively connected to an axle to which one of said rear wheels is attached for selectively preventing rotation of said axle; and

wherein rotation of said push arm from said disengaged position to said engaged position causes said push arm to contact said pedal arm, wherein said pedal arm is rotated in response to said contact with said push arm and such rotation of said pedal arm causes said pawl of said stop assembly to engage said parking gear which prevents rotation of said axle.

2. The parking brake assembly of claim 1 further comprising a transfer assembly operatively connected to said actuation assembly and said stop assembly, said transfer assembly including a guide wire and a first spring, said guide wire extends between said pedal arm and said first spring and said first spring extends between said guide wire and said pawl, wherein rotation of said pedal arm is transferred through said guide wire and said first spring to cause rotation of said pawl into engagement with said parking gear.

3. The parking brake assembly of claim 1 further comprising a return assembly operatively connected to said push arm, said return assembly including a second spring and a return bar, wherein said return bar extends between said push arm and said second spring, and said second spring and return bar biases said push arm into said engaged position.

4. The parking brake assembly of claim 1 , wherein the step of wherein rotation of said push arm from said disengaged position to said engaged position is performed manually by an operator.

5. A parking brake system for a lawn maintenance vehicle, the lawn maintenance vehicle including a pair of opposing lap bars for independently controlling movement of a pair of rear wheels, said parking brake system comprising:

a push arm operatively connected to a lower end of each of said lap bars, each of said push arms being movable between a first operative position and a second operative position;

a pedal arm spaced apart from said push arm, wherein said pedal arm is rotatable between a disengaged position and an engaged position in response to contact from said push arm being moved from said first operative position to said second operative position;

a pawl operatively connected to said pedal arm, wherein rotation of said pedal arm from said disengaged position to said engaged position causes said pawl to engage a parking gear which prevents rotation of said pair of rear wheels.

6. The parking brake system of claim 5 , wherein movement of each of said push arms from said first operative position to said second operative position is in response to movement of one of said lap bars being rotated laterally outward.

7. The parking brake system of claim 5 , wherein each of said push arms is independently movable between said first operative position and said second operative position.

8. The parking brake system of claim 5 , wherein said pedal arm is operatively connected to said pawl by way of a wire.

9. The parking brake system of claim 5 , wherein said pedal arm is biased toward said disengaged position when said push arms are in said first operative position.

10. The parking brake system of claim 9 , wherein said first operative position of said push arms is any position in which said lap bars are being used to control the fore/aft movement of said lawn maintenance vehicle.

11. The parking brake system of claim 5 , wherein said pedal arm includes a pad extending outwardly therefrom.

12. The parking brake system of claim 11 , wherein said push arm includes a projection extending therefrom, and wherein said projection of said push arm contacts said pad of said pedal arm when said push arm is moved from said first operative position to said second operative position.