the Greenfield Frames forum has some requests for description and pics of an overhaul of a Greenfield newer-style transmission – the one mounted above the chassis frames to the left side of the frame, with a short transmission shaft. I’m no expert in Greenfield but from what I can see on the forum this type of transmission seems to be common to many of the later models. I have just undertaken an overhaul of mine and offer a description of the process and several of the gotchas. My mower is a Greenfield FastCut 30, bought second hand several years ago, with only 93 hours showing on the clock.
I am in the southern highlands of NSW and so routinely mow large amounts of relatively dry grass, which generates lots of floating frass which gets everywhere. I am not a mower or engineering professional, but I’m comfortable around machines and tools and am prepared to have a go.
Anyway, the reason for overhauling the transmission was that I was getting OK drive traction going both backwards and forwards, but after an hour of hard work the transmission would start to stick in forwards or reverse or, dangerously, both at the same time. The former had me heading into obstructions and the latter threatened burnout, requiring the engine being turned off to unload the stuck clutch wheels.
Other posts here have emphasised that the clutch linkage from pedal to transmission is prone to being clagged with grass, and that was certainly the situation for my mower when the problem first started to appear. Anyway, I found and fixed that problem to the extent that clutch linkage travel was still quite free while the traction problems got worse, leaving the clutches in the transmission as the likely culprit. In particular, there seemed to be little spring resistance in the interior driven plates so it was possible that the springs had broken. As reported elsewhere in the forum, broken clutch springs are rare but not unknown.
Unfortunately the worsening of the problem coincided with the sale of Greenfield to Cox, so getting hands on the likely needed parts was delayed until last month, when I finally got around to having a go at it.
