Thanks for reporting back, Chris. Our archives are much more useful to people with problems, if the previous cases reach clear conclusions.
The early, long-style drive shaft appears to break after long service, due to excessive overhang and stress concentrations. The ones that have been breaking are more than 20 years old, which is probably a more-or-less reasonable service life I suppose. The failures we have seen appear to have been due to bending moment caused by the long overhang, not torsional stress, so I do not think the forward/reverse pedal is a significant factor.
Greenfield's service department has been helpful to several Outdoorking members, including one in the UK:
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/u...amp;Main=7439&Number=39215#Post39215However, as you say, freight cost is likely to be considerable.
The various Greenfield ride-on mowers made over the years since the late 1960s have been interesting machines and seem to do a good job, though they have peculiarities that you need to get used to. We have a fairly substantial archive on them - if you search our records for "Greenfield" you may find some of the threads to be worth reading.
