OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions on Greenfield Ride On Mower Frames Greenfield Tractor 11 - Mowing Deck Allignment

Hi there. I have only recently purchased this ride on and noticed that the front of the mowing deck is about 1 and a half inches closer to the ground than the rear when parked on a level concrete surface with the deck lowered to the ground but not touching of course.

There is a bolt on the upperside of the deck that sits about 2 inch proud and it isn't connected to anything. I was wondering if it is supposed to be connected to something? Is there a way to adjust the deck?

The sides are supported by chains and appear to be level.

Thanks

aldot, can you post pictures of this please? As far as I know there is no workshop manual for the mower - only an illustrated parts list that isn't much help here - so we need to use either people's prior experience, or just inventing a solution. The pictures will enable others who have similar mowers to tell us how their decks are supported at the front. Obviously you have to end up with the deck level - it is just a matter of what the missing front support should look like.

Mine looks like this, sits fairly level. The plate on the left connects to a chain. 1 on each side

Thanks Mattrob. I didn't get a chance to take snaps due to light but I did measure it and the sides are dead level but the front has a definite lean. One of the Greenfield mobs, (ringing today for clutch prices) said that all the decks lean to the front. I'll snap some shots with a ruler in place to give a better indication.

Much to my disappointment I found out the rear sprocket is not replaceable, well not without a new axle.

Aldot, what size chain is it???

You may be able to get a sprocket from somewhere else and make it fit. Using the old sprocket as a boss to hold the new one if the old was was fixed (welded) to the shaft.
Perhaps change both sprockets, you do not need the exact same tooth count as long as the ratio is the same.

Bearing supply and farm supply places that sell parts for tractor implements usually have access to a wide range of industrial sprockets and chain. Or you could try a motorbike place.


Cheers, Bob.

Thanks Bob. I have purchased a new front sprocket and chain. Just this arvy I pulled down the mower. I will fit the new chain around the old sprocket and see how it fits. I am hoping the old chain was the problem by being excessively stretched. It would ride up onto the rear sprocket teeth only just providing traction. A major incline would have seen it let go I reckon.

Your idea of using the old sprocket as a boss did kind of occur but I wasn't sure where to source parts. Thanks for that I might have a look next week.

I was thinking of removing most of the old sprocket and leaving say a 6 inch diameter spool in the middle. There might just be enough extra in the smaller sprockets shaft to move things across half an inch after you bolt the new sprocket to it. There isn't too much room to play with.

Otherwise weld some arms to the smaller spool and have a hollowed out sprocket slip over the boss and bolt to the new added arms. The new shaft from Greenfield comes in at $250!!! I would guess that it is a bare shaft too.

I don't know what steel sprockets are made from but welding them may be an issue for a homw repair point of view.

Can you post a picture of your old sprocket aldot? If it still has the points on its teeth, you may get some more life out of it, but if the points are undercut, it means the wear is so bad that the sprocket effectively has a larger pitch than the chain, and it will ruin your new chain.

Hi Grumpy, here is a picture of the old sprocket


Got my bearings mixed and posted this in another thread.

I was going to wrap the new chain and see if it fits sung down into the sprocket. I don't want to ruin a new chain but $250 for a sprocket welded to a bare shaft is a bit rich.

As far as I can tell that sprocket has never slipped: the points would be rounded if it had. The points do not seem to be undercut either, so it doesn't look badly worn and hopefully the chain will fit it fairly well. That is often the case with very large sprockets: you'd wear out a whole bunch of the tiny ones before you had to replace the big one. So, I won't be surprised if you find your chain fits it like a glove, but please go ahead and make the check, then tell us the result.

Fingers crossed Grumpy. The budget is tightening on this mower with the boss of the house taking interest, possibly only in the finacial side of things!!

Going back to the original first question in this thread about the front and back of the mowing deck being out by a bit.

Today I fitted a new chain to the rear drive and believe it or not the problem seems to have been resolved or improved. The chain adjustment on this model Greenfield is done by pushing the rear wheels down as the chain stretches effectively raising the rear of the mower. The old chain was that bad the adjustment was at the end of its travel. The new chain I installed today has obviously completely reversed this as the wheels are now pushed back up as far as they go, lowering the rear of the mower. It has levelled the deck out somewhat.

The simple things eh!!

aldot, does your mower have an idler/jockey wheel just underneath the small sprocket, as Deadly's Dave's has? I suspect that idler is adjustable, to maintain chain tension without disturbing the level (front and rear trim heights) of the mower. Can you check this and let us know, please? The information will be useful to other Greenfield owners. A picture or two would be appreciated.

Hi Grumpy, no there is no idler as on Daves machine. In that area is a plate/shield welded purely to stop rubbish flicking up onto the chain.

The only adjustment is purely moving the rear axle up and down.

I'll take some snaps this arvy.

This picture, re-posted from Dave's thread, shows the idler. It is mounted directly below the small sprocket.



Does your mower have this idler?

Hi Grumpy, no it doesn't have that idler. If you look at that picture and see the flat bar weled above the large pulley, mine has a 4 inch strip of that directly where the idler is in that picture. It protects the chain between the sprockets from rubbish. I'll try and grab a picture.

A picture would be appreciated aldot, to help people who look at this thread in future. We don't know whether there was a design change between your mower and Dave's, or perhaps one or the other was modified after it was made. Since your trim heights are now the same at the front and rear of the mower, it seems the idler is not necessary when you have a new chain. It also seems the previous owner of your mower probably pushed it quite a bit in continuing to use a worn-out chain.

Yes in regards to the previous owner, I certainly wouldn't buy a used motor car from him. Luckily mowers are not to expensive to repair.

Hi folks here is the picture of the sprocket set up on my Tractor 11 VE. There is no idler pulley just this shield.

Thanks aldot. We still don't know if Dave's idler was original equipment, or a modification by a previous owner.

I'll close this thread.