OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions on Greenfield Ride On Mower Frames Greenfield 5XL

Deck down


Deck up

Works like a treat, now why didn't Mr Greenfield do it like that in the first place, lot of work to build this one but so simple to set up in a factory making many of them. Quite possibly this poorly designed adjuster caused sales to be low

A thing of beauty Norm!

I now understand that there is a front mounted deck point as well! My incoherent comments on the weekend did not account for this.

I've discovered some photos of a stallion (from the nineties I guess an so later than yours) that has a more conventional height adjust. Seems old Theo got it right in the end.

The thing I did notice on the Stallion photos is that his has slotted holes and the usual Anti-scalping wheels to allow for deck float. I'd send photos but I'm finding it a little frustrating at the moment. Refer query in seperate post.

Again, full marks for the ingenuity!

Cheers,

Thanks for that, I just sold a Stallion a couple of weeks ago and after explaining to the buyer that they only had a park locking brake, no actual brakes as such, (not heel and toe either)they have a gearbox, forward, neutral, reverse. From his postcode I realized he lived in hilly country, he said it would be ok but within a week he wanted me to fit a disc brake to it because he ended up having to crash it into a tree to stop it. At least all this stuff keeps the brain working and keeps me out of the house and this makes my wife happy. As long as I get the money back that I spend on them is all that matters. I'll probably spend about 3 weeks working on this one. I went to get belts and blades for it yesterday from the mower shop and when I told him it was a 5XL he nearly fell on the floor and uttered something similar to, you have to be kidding

Looks like I have had a whoopsy moment with my design of getting the deck to lift up and down, somehow with the original design the deck was able to move back and forth to adjust the deck belt, I think. Oh well no big deal I'll get around that with some type of adjuster directly to the belt. Still a much better design than the original, I'm sure old Mr Greenfield must have been on holidays or long service leave when the design department slipped this one through

G'day Norm can you just run an idler on the back of the V belt? Perhaps even under spring tension.

Slash, that was my plan earlier this morning but after a bit of modification I was able to use the original tensioner set up. I am now super happy with the whole thing,just have to paint the bodywork and it will be a great little mower for years to come for somebody.I have spent over $350 in parts and countless hours on it so it would want to be good. Wish I had some grass to cut with it

Sometimes it's not about the money spent but more about the fun along the way. Having said that, you don't want to sell it just to break even and get nothing other than some fun and some headaches for your efforts.

Slash, every morning I dig myself into a headache and spend the rest of the day trying to get out of it

You must enjoy it. I know I really enjoy repairing or re engineering things.

Slash, you have to have a reason to get out of bed every day

I'm happy with the way the seat has turned out

That's a great looking seat. Did you recover that yourself?

Yes Slash I covered it myself, got a couple of little faults but best I could do, pretty happy with it. Missus had the vinyl, pinchweld cost $6 and a can of spray glue $10. The cheapest mower seats cost $120 and makes the whole thing uneconomic

Ticks all the boxes then. Did it yourself. Great finish. Minimal outlay. Gotta be happy.

Thanks Slash, mower is pretty much finished now, I still have to put a coat of 2 pak clear on the bodywork, that will depend on the weather over the next few days. I'll get a couple of pics tomorrow and post them up

I think it turned out ok compared to how it started out

Just as a guess I have probably spent about 80 hours on it, there is no way this can be classed as"being of sound mind and body", but no hobby is.

Mate that's a great job. You'll go broke working like that.

Slash, I think my charge out rate is probably somewhere between 50cents and $1 per hour, not sure if that covers my shed lighting bill and tools but at the end of the day somebody ends up with a good mower. The 80 hours I said I spent on it was on the conservative side I would say. Things like getting the rear wheels off and the axle out can take a day or more and then I can start making bearing housings and that sort of thing.Shafts that have worn down need repairing and where I can I get rid of the imperial bearings and fit metric because imperial bearings are twice the price of the metric. I have now started on this Ariens and just repairing the steering is a major project. They all seem to take me about a month to get them sorted. Onwards and upwards and keep smiling