OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions on Greenfield Ride On Mower Frames Greenfield Drive Problem

aussie, I'll explain my current theory of what may be wrong. The clutch facings wear, and the pedal has to move further to engage the drive. The forward clutch usually wears much more than the reverse clutch, because it is used more. The new (E2000) linkage type may have less effective movement than the older type, and unlike the older type, it no longer has a linkage adjustment. I'm guessing that your forward clutch has worn enough so that it requires adjustment. It would be possible to dismantle the whole clutch axle and change the shims, but I'm guessing that you may be able to just use a simple adjustment and avoid doing the whole rebuild job until the clutch facing is worn considerably more than it is so far.

On the clutch shaft that runs laterally across the chassis, at each side of the stack of clutches, there is a hexagonal nut which sets the positions of the fixed (outer) clutch plates. If the forward clutch facing is worn too far for the linkage to cope, the position of the fixed plate can be reset by tightening the nut on that side slightly. I suspect this is what a dealer would do to fix your problem. It is important to adjust the nut on the same side as the forward clutch: do not allow the nut on the reverse clutch side to turn. This means you have to hold the clutch plate, to keep the shaft from turning when you tighten the nut. I suggest you only adjust it about 30 degrees, then retry the mower. If it helps, but the pedal still moves further than it does in the reverse direction, adjust the nut a bit further.



The picture shows Deadly Dave adjusting his clutch pack. He did it on the bench - you would do it with the clutch shaft still installed in the chassis.

If my theory is correct, the reason you get more drive from a cold start, and the reason you get more drive when you slow down the engine, is explained in one of my previous posts: when a clutch plate gets hot, it slips. Your forward clutch gets very hot when it slips, and that makes it slip a lot more.