InstallationInstallation was, as they say, the reverse of installation, requiring:
• installation of the bearing plates to the frame,
• installation of the drive belt,
• attachment of the yoke bar to the clutch links,
• reattachment of the cutter deck counterbalance spring,
• Installation of the drive chain, and
• Installation of the Battery and Cover.
The transmission is attached to the mower by bolting the bearing plates to their mounts on each side of the transmission hole in the frame. The assembled transmission is something of a tight fit, but it should be able to be pressed in place by hand. Try to get the drive belts snugged into the clutch pulleys as they go in – it’s easier than doing them afterwards; lining the belts up a bit before lowering the transmission in helps. *** GOTCHA WARNING – the yoke bar in the centre of the transmission has to be above both the forward and rearward edges of the frame hole for the transmission – the yoke bar is just long enough to get stuck under one of the other and can’t be rotated out from underneath without disassembling the yoke bar or taking the transmission out again. *** Did that
. Make sure that the bearing plates are both inside of the mower frame such that the bearings are firmly held. The bearing plate bolts are designed to be installed from inside to out – the square hole keys for the cup head bolts are on the bearing plates. Reinstalling the bearing retainer bolts in the sprocket side is easy – plenty of room. Reinstalling the bolts on the battery side is a pain, involving careful alignment of the bolt head notch in the clutch pulley, a magnetic holder and a non-magnetic poker (ie a stick) and lots of persistence and wiggling. Somebody didn’t think that one through well.
The drive belt loop is retrieved from out the back of the mower and guided back over the clutch pulleys and around the front V pulley. Push the V pulley forwards to simplify re-installation of the drive tension spring. Remove the screwdriver from the notch release hole if it’s still there : ) Put the spring anchor back onto the end of the notched bar and the front end of the drive tension sprint spring back into the pulley mount. Then, approaching the assembly from the rear of the mower, use your spring hook to pull the spring backwards and onto the spring anchor. Give the notch bar or V pulley a push forwards to ensure that the notch bar leaf spring can slot into the most forward notch.
Assuming that you’ve avoided the yoke bar gotcha above, reattaching the yoke bar to the clutch links is a simple matter of reinstalling the two circlips front and back. If the rear clutch link guide was rotated out of the way, look forward to getting down and dirty to get the non-captured nut tightened again after rotating the guide back into position.
Reattaching the cutter deck counterbalance spring really needs three hands – one on the hook to pull the spring out far enough to get the bolt end through the frame, one to put the washer back on the shaft and stop it from falling off and one put the nut on a first few threads. This probably could be simplified, I didn’t find a way. The nut is done up all the way; about 3cm worth so have a 14mm socket and ratchet driver handy.
Installing the drive chain involves fishing it out from the gap between the wheel and large sprocket, looping it over the small transmission sprocket and starting it onto the large axle sprocket. Not having the chain guard washer in place here helps. Push the mower backwards again to have the chain feed on to the correct path on the big sprocket, but watch that the chain doesn’t simply fall off the bottom of the big sprocket as it goes around. It should fit all the way round the big sprocket without too much hassle.
Once the drive chain is in place, move the tensioner backwards onto the chain until there is only a small amount of play in the chain between the small sprocket and the top rear of the large sprocket. Greenfield recommends 3mm, I gave it about 5, which was still substantially less than what it was when I pulled it apart. Do up the adjuster nuts and lock nuts firmly. Reinstall the chain guard washer to the drive sprocket, using a bit of medium strength thread locker for the retaining bolt. Some care is needed to ensure that the small bulge pressed into the chain guard washer fits neatly into the end of the sprocket key hole, keeping everything aligned.
Finally, reinstall the battery and rear cover.
