OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions on Greenfield Ride On Mower Frames Greenfield Mk2A - Squeal from my Greenfield

hi everyone , I have just noticed a squeal coming from my greenfield ride on mower.
The model is a MK 2A 30 inch cut. 11.5hp b&s engine. The code is 11A-45193 stamped on chassie. excuse my spelling.
Ok so the squeal is coming from the friction drive area or under the seat the big discs, and only squeals when you go forward and reverse (nothing to do with turning )and its only a brief squeal maybe 4 seconds and then is ok. So I wanted to know if the clutch or hopfully the belts. is there a sure way to diagnose the problem ? Thanks for you time.

I would be checking the belts out to start with, if they have a siny appearance on the inner V it would suggest to me that they have been slipping, however thats not always the case, tension on the belt would also be another area I would start on. In my eyes belts are relatively cheap/easy to adjust rather than trying to pull the back axles out to check on the clutches.

Im no greenfield expert though, there are some with more experience on here that will probably know whats going on without thinking about it

ok thanks Joe for the reply , I will investigate belts and tension and post what I find , thanks for your advice again. Great forum been doing lots of reading.

Mike, you might start with the spring-loaded belt tensioning idler under the seat:


It sometimes doesn't quite click into the next position, and you have to push it forward with a small bar (or sometimes with the sole of your boot) until you hear the click. The design is a bit marginal - it should always take up the wear automatically, but it is not at all unusual for it to need a bit of help. If this isn't clear just say so, and I'll go into nauseating detail.

hello grumpy , thanks for your advice and the pic, I think I know what you mean and ill give it a go tomorrow afternoon and let you know what happens, but again thanks so much for the quick reply and the picture. im really impressed with the help. Thanks guys.

Glad to help Mike. When you've made that test we'll know if it is the belt tension. If it is not, just tell us and we can pursue the diagnosis process further. Greenfield wheel-drive systems are not all that complicated - we should be able to find the problem.

Ok I had a look today first the belt seemed ok ,so I had a look at the pulley , the belt had a little more play then it probably should have so I gave the end part of that spring a few taps and I think it moved at least one notch maybe two. So I started it up and not sittng on it but just pushing each way on the pedal and still the squeal . So im thinking now I might just replace the belt just to count that out. If its not the belt im guessing I need to resurface the clutch plates. The cork surface is probably 2mm at best, Its done 250hrs and I do a lot of forward and reverse when mowing. I bought it at about 230hrs . So I guess ill try the belt and see what happens.

Mike, if the belt has been slipping for a long time it is possible that it has worn the belt, and perhaps even the pulleys, like what happens with ride-ons that use a slipping belt as a clutch. Inspect the bottom of the belt, to see if it is shiny or shows signs of heat. If so, it is bottoming in a pulley. On the Greenfield it seems unlikely to slip on one of the big clutch-pulleys, but it could slip on the engine pulley.

I do not see how you could have moved the sliding pulley by tapping on a spring. You need to push the pulley itself, either with a small bar or perhaps with your foot, in the direction shown by the red arrow:



Of course if you use a lever you have to be careful not to damage the pulley, but large numbers of Greenfield owners do this more or less regularly with no difficulty.

Hi grumpy , ok ill try move the pulley itself, I meant I tapped on the rod above the spring with a hammer thinking the rod pushes the pulley foward and then looked down at the teeth on the rod and they looked like they had moved or the surface on the teeth were fresh metal looking if that makes sense. Ill try again today and see what happens , I will also try upload some pics to try explain it better. Thanks again grumpy

Hey guys here are some pics hope they work, I pushed up on the pulley and did not move much, belt seems tight enough, so here are some pics of the condition of the belt and the pulley and the clutch plates .

The belt does not look to me as if it has been bottoming in a pulley: no shiny marks on its underside. However the teeth on the ratchet bar do not look all that good. See this thread:

https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=43216#Post43216

We have had one case where the ratchet was not holding, so the pulley could slip backward under load:
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=39126&Searchpage=1&Main=7408&Words=%2B+%22angle+grinder%22&Search=true#Post39126

I suggest you check whether you can pull the spring-loaded tensioning pulley back against the ratchet (the problem Nooni had). I'll try to explain how this could cause belt slip when moving forward but not backward. Here is a marked up version of one of your pictures:


The green arrow, pointed toward the front of the machine, is on top of what I believe is your forward clutch. The belt would be moving forward there, and backward over the other (reverse) clutch. Remember that the forward clutch pulley is rotated by belt tension, so when moving forward the belt has no tension upstream of the forward clutch (up toward the engine pulley), but a lot of tension in front of the clutch pulley, toward the idler pulley. That belt tension is carried around the idler, around the reverse clutch, and forward to the engine pulley. The result of this is that the idler is being pulled backward by twice the belt tension, whenever you are moving forward. (The belt tension is the same on both sides of the idler.) That is quite a large force trying to pull the idler back, whenever the forward clutch is engaged. If it weren't for the ratchet system, the idler would just move toward the back of the mower due to that force, slackening the belt and causing the mower to not move at all. Conversely when you engage the reverse clutch, there is virtually no tension in the belt upstream of the reverse clutch pulley, and hence no backward force on the idler pulley. Thus when you reverse, the idler pulley has the chance to move forward under spring pressure and engage the next ratchet position, to compensate for belt wear. Hence, when a Greenfield will only move backward, not forward, the first thing to suspect is that you have Nooni's problem: a slipping idler ratchet. If the idler ratchet is OK, and you have pushed the idler forward as far as possible so the belt is very tight, there seem to be only two remaining possible causes of the lack of forward drive. The first is that the belt is touching the bottom of a pulley, so it can't jam in the V pulley and deliver some serious driving torque. It would most likely be the engine pulley that it was slipping on, and the cure would be a new belt. The second possible cause is that the forward clutch is worn out and is slipping. Generally, a slipping belt squeals, while a slipping clutch makes less noise and at a lower pitch.

So, I suggest you look at the idler ratchet to make sure you don't have Nooni's fault. If that is OK, look at the engine pulley that drives the wheel belt, not the cutter belt, to see if the belt has been touching the bottom of the groove. For Pete's sake disconnect the spark plug lead before you get under the mower to look at that pulley.

If you can convince yourself that you have plenty of belt tension, the pulley is firmly locked by the ratchet, and the belt has not been touching the bottom of the engine pulley, you'll have to think about a new forward clutch lining. That is not a very big job on your relatively recent-model Greenfield with its short clutch shaft, but it would be a pity to do it if there is nothing wrong with the clutch lining you have at present.

hi grumpy , thanks for your detailed info , my understanding of how it all works is getting better. I have not had a chance to look at it this weekend but im pretty sure the ratchet is working ok, I will double check but im pretty sure. The mower itself has no problem driving in forward or reverse, it does not feel like its slipping , I have no complaints about how the machine is performing . Its just the squeal and it squeals only for a couple of seconds when switching between forward and reverse. I have stood beside the mower with the cover off and ran it in forward and reverse and the clutch has enough grips to want to spin the wheels.The squeal is high pitched sound, and sort of sound like its coming from the clutch or the clutch pulley area. So im thinking ill check the engine pulley as you said and buy a new belt. Then see what happens, appreciate any advice thanks again.

Mike, if you follow that process and the belt is cleared of possible blame, the clutch will be the only potential cause left. However the clutch can only slip if you have run out of pedal movement in the forward direction: until that point is reached, you just push the pedal further until it stops slipping. Also, that clutch is designed to slip continuously for long periods without harm (except for gradual wear of the clutch lining). So, if the problem is clutch slip, you should be conscious of not being able to push the pedal any further, while it is happening.

I don't know how long you've had the mower and how much you know about its past maintenance. We have had one case where it looks as if someone ran a Greenfield long after the forward clutch was worn out - presumably making the shim stack thicker and thicker as he ran out of pedal movement each time - until the lining was gone completely and the metal clutch disk made contact with the pulley surface, damaging it fairly severely. See Millsi's thread here:
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=43216&Searchpage=1&Main=7862&Words=%2Bgreenfield+%2Blathe+%2Bclutch&Search=true#Post43216

Whether the problem is with the belt or the clutch, it is important to fix it, or there may be damage to the pulley (if it is belt slip) or the clutch (if it runs out of clutch lining material). However it seems to me your best clue as to whether you have a clutch fault, will be whether the pedal is fully floored when the squeal happens. A clutch squeal with a partly-pressed pedal just means you have a slightly glazed clutch and need to push the pedal a bit further to wear off the glazing. I think glazing with a Greenfield is caused by running the engine faster than necessary, so the percentage of clutch slip when you are mowing is higher than necessary. This causes clutch lining wear as well as glazing. It is best to set the engine speed as low as possible whilst having enough power to do the job, so that slip can be minimised.

hi guys , sorry have not had time to do much work on the mower, how ever I did notice their might be some movement in the ratchet pulley so as soon as I get a chance I will have a look at it closer, thanks again grumpy and to this site iv been reading a lot of other posts on the subject, ill post an update asap.

hey guys , well after a lot of rain we have had here in the southern highlands I finally had a chance to have a look at the mower again. The squeal has stopped , I think the clutch was a little glazed , because I had bern running the mower with the speed maybe to high for the job I was doing , so today I slowed it right down and there was a few squeals at first but then stop all together. So im hoping that was it. mowed well today all seems great at the moment. I will let you guys know if there is any change but so for so good. Thanks again for all the help grumpy and you great explanation of my issues. Would never have thought of it on my own. Thanks