Two weeks ago I was baling hay with a bigger tractor. I stopped on a relatively flat part of a fairly hilly field to move a bale when the kicker missed the wagon. The tractor wasn't rolling and I "forgot" to set the parking brake. Guess what. No sooner than I got the bale moved (which was against the wagon tire - think chock) and the whole contraption started rolling. I thought about jumping on the moving tractor and thought better of it. The tractor rolled down the small grade and fortunately, turned uphill and stopped. Dumb luck, devine intervention, etc., etc., etc. Not one of my prouder moments.

Moral of the story: set the parking brake when you get off a running tractor or turn it off and put it in gear. Make it a habit.

Patrick

Those stupid little cam parking brakes on these N's are just about useless, in my opinion. I turn off the engine in gear. But if you're on a hill and you put it in 2nd or higher the tractor will creep backwards one gear tooth at a time. 1st is better but not foolproof, depending on the percent grade you're on. Better to chock the wheel with a big rock or chunk of log.
With my Wagner loader I have the best and easiest parking brake of all - I just put the bucket down to the ground and apply some down pressure on the bucket and that tractor stays put!
If you do park it on what you think is level ground and get off, and it starts to roll forward, you can get back on and hit the brakes. Be there, done that. We do learn things the hard way, sometimes.
Carl