OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Collectors Corner Ride On Greenfield: 'Old Red" cutter clutch

Wondering if anyone can shed some light in relation to the cutter drive on the 'Old Red' Greenfield HD8.

Unlike the later HD8's the machines have a single drive belt from the engine clutch pulley with this single belt running directly to a double pulley on the blade guard and a second belt the running from this double pulley to the transmission. This has been mentioned in previous threads. Until the weekend I'd been of the understanding that there was no clutching of the cutter- and the layout on mine seemed to confirm this.

But.....on the weekend I was trawling through the IPC (kindly provided to the forum by another HD8 owner- many thanks!) and there is mention of a cutter clutch lever and mechanism! Curiosity demanded I tear mine apart to investigate. First thing I noticed was the disused lever bracket in the photo. Disassembly revealed a fairly horrible dog clutch arrangement! But none of the other items called out in the IPC are there. Most likely cause is a 'modification' by a previous owner. The other possibility being that it was deleted at factory on later models.

Ive been through all the other threads that I find but can find no photos of details of this 'system'. If it's supposed to be there, Id like to refit it in the name of correctness.

Can anyone help with information of photos?

Either way, I don't think it was one of Greenfields best ideas. But all good designs need to evolve to some extent......

It does look as if some previous tenant has engaged the dog clutch with the engine running a number of times, which has caused some damage. It's possible that the actual tenant had some family member or employee or whatever who could not be dissuaded from doing this, so he removed the operating mechanism. Problem solved: no more damage.

That's quite likely! And to have the forethought to modify before the thing was completely destroyed too. Perhaps it was some part of the engaging mechanism that was wrecked. Give credit where due, the mod is a proper job. If I hadn't happened upon the details in the IPC I would simply have wondered why the dog was there and moved on. Most Tenant mods give themselves away with 'Dad and Dave' techniques.
What I'm really after is info on how it was and whether the thing can be un-modified relatively easily or whether a doner is needed.