OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions on Greenfield Ride On Mower Frames Greenfield - Slipping Sound from Clutch

My Greenfield V Twin is only 100hrs old but has just now started to squeal intermittently going forward up steep slopes. I am guessing it is a clutch problem but it may be the drive belt slipping. Machine was just serviced 5 weeks ago. Could dirt on the clutch drive plate be a cause for slippage on a new machine. The drive belt seems tight enough. There does seem to be more play in the forward drive moving plate and it feels hot to touch.

There is no squealing on level ground or mild slopes. Any ideas ?

Id say it needs to go back to the service guy and let him have another go at it.

The last service was a simple inspection and frame maintenance with no clutch problem or maintenance. Belt looks fine and is sitting cleanly in all the pulleys and the drive shaft.

Rode it again today and it is more of a clutch grinding/ slipping noise than a high pitch belt squeal.

Dealer said it was normal to get a squeal from the clutch holding the mower stationary on slopes.
There has been no noises whatsoever, even on the steepest slopes, prior to last week. Always had heaps of torque and punch going up slopes.

Leads me to think something has got onto the forward drive plates or perhaps glazed the plate

You have been using the clutch to hold it on steep slopes, rather than the brake? It sounds as if you have glazed the forward clutch, or just possibly even worn it out. (Of course it is also possible that someone has unwisely oiled the square shaft the clutch plates slide on, and it has thrown out centrifugally onto the forward plate.) You can find out whether the clutch is slipping fairly easily. Start the machine from cold and drive it with full pressure on the drive pedal, up a slope that causes the mower to squeal. (Do not do any manoeuvring of the mower, and especially no holding it on the clutch, during this test). After it has been squealing for a while, stop the mower, stop the engine, disconnect the spark plug leads, and touch the forward clutch disk. Then touch the reverse clutch disk. (Be careful, start with a light quick touch of a fingertip until you see if it is hot enough to burn you.) If the forward one is hot and the reverse one is not, the forward clutch was slipping when you drove up the slope. We can then discuss what you can do about it.

Thanks Grumpy,


Just to clarify I haven't been holding the mower stationary on slopes , with the clutch , an unduly long period but just briefly when I'm navigating around trees and obstacles.

I have also followed the manual's recommendation to use forward pressure on the pedal , at low revs, when going forward down slopes to allow the engine to assist braking.

I do have some steep slopes, but these have never bothered my 26 HP Twin before.

I had another longer inspection of the drive system earlier this morning and nothing is obstructing the clutch linkage and the belt and pulleys all look fine.

The dealership did put what I would regard as a hell of a lot of grease on the chain at the service but it doesn't appear to have been flung onto the clutch.

The cork on the front drive disk is a little more worn than the reverse disk but still has plenty of meat on it.

I'll undertake the procedure you described and get back to you.

It's great to have someone with knowledge about Greenfieds to assist. Thank you.

The clutches on greenfields are meant to be set correctly. As they wear they need to be reset to take up the slack. The friction material wears and the gap needs to be taken out.
I have never done it before but there are threads on it in here.


If you are not well equipped and confident i would suggest getting the dealer to do it. I would tend to think that if you are not up for servicing a machine its best to get this dealer done as well. They should know what they are doing and they have to warranty work for 3 months.

Having said that i am wondering why it got through serviceing without it coming to the attention of the servicee that the clutch needed adjustment. A question i would ask if i had to take it back 5 weeks later.


Yes it is possible that it ingested something and the clutch is damaged. Ive never heard of it before but it could be possible.

Changing the shim-stack in the center of those clutches will be an expensive job, Bob. We need to be quite sure that is the problem before incurring the cost. I agree with you that is probably what is wrong, but it will be several hours' work at dealer rates, and if it isn't what is wrong, the money will be wasted. First the diagnosis, then the cure. Also if that much wear happened in just 100 hours, DWB needs to change the way he operates the machine, and we shouldn't ask him to do that without being sure it is necessary.

(If his block is so steep that he has to run the engine fast and slip the clutch all the time, let's face it, he needs a different type of mower or a lower final drive ratio. I have some doubts about a 26 hp engine on a Greenfield drive system to begin with: if you are going to have a single speed drive system, and then you double the size of the engine, you will need bigger clutches or a different driving style to operate it successfully on steep slopes.)

The rain has set in up here so I haven't been able to run Grumpy's test as yet.

To further clarify, I have been running the machine on these slopes effortlessly for a year without having to run the engine hard and without a trace of the clutch slipping.

The machine has been maintained , serviced and driven carefully.

The clutch does not show obvious evidence of significant wear.

The squealing has commenced only over the last hour of use.

As soon as the weather fines up I'll retest things.

Thanks again all for your assistance.

Thanks David, we need to get the facts clear before we can home in on the source of the problem. If the clutch is slipping, we can look into why it is doing so. If it is not slipping, we need to find the source of the squealing/screeching sound. You have a high-quality mower, it deserves to be repaired and to work properly.

I can not say i disagree with your sentiments there. Any of those type friction drive systems will see me steer clear if i can.
People love the Cox setup, not me i hate em, what a lump of heat generating poop.
The three stage rover like used on the old ranger tiller steer is better, but its still high wear.

But when going right they are all effective.




That was sorta my point.
As learned as we are about life, its a bit hard for any of us to have a handle on whats going on with this machine sitting on chairs in front of our computers. Its a process of elimination and trial and error made all the more difficult by not being able to put a bum on it.

Loading the thing in the trailer and wheeling it down to the dealer and yelling 'what the heck did you do to my machine' is an idea. 'this thing is a heap of Poo, 100 hours and its giving trouble' Possibly not the most valid or the best ideas ive had.
If they sold it, and they are looking after it, they are probably well placed to know what might be wrong with it 100 hours down the track. That was more my point. They might just know.



Now back to the problem. I do seem to recall something about the centre drive 'cone' running on a square shaft. Perhaps it is chattering and needs lubrication?

The center part of the clutch shaft is square, and both clutch drive disks slide on that square. The clutch fork in the center pushes either right or left to engage the forward or reverse clutch. The fork and the pedal mechanism have very limited movement, so the clearance of the two clutches when not driving has to be minimal or there is not enough pedal movement to fully engage one or both clutches. The clearance is set by a shim stack in the center of the shaft, which sets the distance between the two drive disks when neither of them is being pushed sideways by the fork. That means as the clutch friction material wears down, the pedal moves further until there is not sufficient movement of the mechanism to achieve full engagement. At that point you have to remove the whole clutch shaft complete with both clutches and the side bearings that support the shaft in the two chassis rails. The whole mechanism has to be stripped on the bench, and the center shim stack changed to reduce the clutch clearance. Then the assembled shaft has to be reinstalled in the mower. It is a fair amount of work, and if you are using the machine for a job that involves anything but straight cruising with the clutch fully engaged, it might have to be done fairly often.

Finally got back on the mower after some bad weather. Went up the same slopes with diff lock off and there was no squealing. Put diff lock back on and again went up the same slopes; no squealing.
Went and had another look under the seat and noticed a retainer on one of the clutch linkage bar pivot points was missing.It did not seem to cause any problem to the operation of the clutch forks but I went down the dealership to get a replacement.

Advised one of the mechanics about my problem and he was very confident the noise was coming from a slightly loose drive belt.

I knew that the manual stated that the drive belt was self tightening and that when I had inspected it, all seemed ok.

He explained that the belt is normally self tightening but sometimes it gets slightly loose and a 1mm adjustment would fix it.

He told me to just get a metal bar and lever the mechanism that tensions the pully in front of the clutches just a little forward until you here it click into the next notch . No need to remove or untighten anything.

Well I did what he suggested and it worked like a treat, putting just a little more tension on that large spring and moving the pulley out just a little.

Now I'll tell you if it's a permanent fix after a few days of use but it's certainly looking positive.

Regarding some of the earlier comments in posts from members: The mechanic said he has rarely saw a worn clutch facing, even on commercially operated machines, before ten years use. This is a large Greenfield dealership and always have about 20 in the yard when I visit.

He said that the shaft may need oiling before the clutch facings wear out.

Anyway it's operating like new again, punching up those hills without missing a beat and cutting through the thick stuff like a hot knife through butter. And that's why I bought it along with the 45 year old reputation.

Oiling that clutch shaft is not something I'd recommend, David. The oil traps dirt and then acts like valve grinding paste, wearing the shaft and the clutch drive disks. There are other treatments for sticking clutches that are likely to do less long-term harm. Oiling it is very easy and inexpensive to do, however, which is probably why some dealers seem to like to do it.

Several Outdoorking members have had worn clutch facings (worn to the stage where they needed to have the shim stack adjusted - most of them did not need new facings), but I do not know the age of their machines. In normal service (in other words, being driven all the time with the clutch fully engaged), they do seem to last a number of years before needing that adjustment. My concern in your case was the much larger engine, and the continual working on steep slopes, neither of which applies to most of the Greenfields we hear about.

Since your problem was a slipping belt, I think your difficulties are over. If it slips again at some time, either adjusting the belt (manually moving that spring-loaded idler near the clutches, much as you did this time) or replacing the belt, should be effective. Working on the clutches is a bit difficult with the Greenfield system, but the belts do not seem to be much more difficult to work on than other mowers.

Since this problem has been solved, I'll close this thread.