OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions On Ride On Mowers Questions on Greenfield Ride On Mower Frames Greenfield Vintage ower - Any details / manuals ?

Hi, Going over the thread you guys seem to have reached most the conclusions I would have come too.
The tyres and wheels on your machine definately do not look right. Too big front and back. There must be some sort of hubs on your rear axle going by the bolts, the rear wheels on mine I have a feeling are on a keyed taper lock. I know one is loose.
It looks like the right deck, the anti scalping wheels are wrong, I assume thats because of the rear tyres, the lugs are cast on the deck, if I remember right the later deck just has metal brackets bolted. Is there a different set of unused mounting bolt holes in the top of the deck?? There is a listing for 18" blades in the parts list.
From the pic I saw it looks like there is still some clutch material on there. I doubt that would be high wear if it was setup right.




I have 3 HD-8's here. All powered by G65 honda motors. With the tank on top these are a very large and tall motor.
I also have some spare engines from Deutscher slashers. (another australian beauty)

I have the yellow machine, which for all intents, apart from the briggs, looks like it is the same machine as yours with the Cluch on the front of the motor for the cutter. I'm missing the deck drive part of the clutch, and the deck and seat.


The other two machines I have are Red ones. The better of the two is the one pictured in the other thread (link on the first page), it came from canberra, no deck but has the seat. The other I got for a good deal, minus bonnet but with the propper solid front wheels, an original deck thats pretty beat up and a reduction G45 motor.
These were the earlier model. There was one belt off the front of the motor and above the deck spindle was an idler to pick up another belt that went back to the drive assembly. I am not sure if the idler on the deck was clutched in any way, it appears not. The drive to the deck was 4 pins with rubber tubing that went up into holes in the underside of the idler.


Due to my over enthusiastic ability to hoard crap, I gabbed the above when the opportunity arose, had a bit of a look and what not and then put it all away. Room is tight and I have stuff on top of stuff. Hoping to get to it one day, if I dont finish what I am doing now I will never get to it, so I am reluctant to go out and scour over the workings and get all snap happy. Where I to get into it I would doccument my progress. If there was something in particular ask, I will do my best to help out.


I have an 11XL that I was going to use for parts, deck (and drive and wheels if needed). I was going to fix the yellow machine into a going concern.

Then from the two red machines I wanted to fully restore one. And given what I am thinking about the deck drive, have it setup with no blades on it as a static tribute. It will be a fair task, I will need to have the deck repaired.

I had seen two other complete working machines one yellow one red for sale by the same guy on ebay, I was half interested but the $350+ea price tags put me off.



My advice to you.
You have a nice clean machine there. To make it 100% original would be nothing short of a logistical nightmare, certainly not impossible but I would say impractical.
I would just work on its appearance and workings, sort out any issues that you can see and enjoy it.
Best I can tell it is in a state where you could add a belt and get mowing. What more would you want a ride on mower to do??
If you wanted to show it at a rally or similar I'd have to assume that in the UK you would be hard pressed to find a person that would know enough about them to pick it to bits.
But then I suppose you would know.


I did contact Greenfields. 1800100100
The guy who helped me was Ken Harris.
KHarris@greenfieldmowers.com.au
He mailed me out a copy of the parts list for the Super 8 (yellow one) and the HD-8 (old red) and the Ultimow (Walk behind slasher) as none of these are available in PDF. They look like photocopies of photocopies and the quality is crap, and thats putting it nicely. But full points to Ken for doing his best to help out, I was actually contacting him about the slasher, the parts lists for the old tractors where an after thought.

I couldnt say anymore about dating it than what you have worked out. I am not aware of any frame or chassis numbers or identifying marks.
The engineering is not that exceptional, I would imagine most parts could easily be sourced from an engineering suplies place or replcated on fairly basic machinery.
Only things that would be harder would be the cast alloy, bits, seat pan, steering wheel, steering gears. Perhaps they could be bought. I know all 3 of the machines I have here the steering gears are fairly worn.



Cheers, Bob.

Hi Bob, many thanks for your reply.

On the matter of the wheels, I feel that these are in fact original, split alloy ones on the front and taper fit (no hubs) on the rear although I'm not too sure about the rear tyre sizes at 6.50 these could be a little bit too wide.

As I said in my previous post, if you look at the front section of the rear mudguards they are not at right angles to the main horizontal part of the mudguard, they are sloping which is a bit different to those on yours. A small difference but still a difference!

The cutter deck doesn't appear to have any unused holes in it so I'm guessing that the anti-scalping wheels are fitted to the correct welded brackets. The deck discharges on the right when viewed from the seating position, other Greenfields that I've seen discharge on the left - do yours? The other thing about the deck is that it is a 28" cut.

There is a part of me that says just cut it cutting the grass and to do that all I need to do is replace the cutter deck drive clutch cork liner, fit a cutter drive belt and replace the rear axle bearings. But there is also another part of me that says restore it and it's got me intrigued! In all probability I'll do both, get it cutting the grass for a couple of end of season cuts then strip it down and rebuild it to as near as I think original condition and specification.

The other thing that makes me think that the wheels are the correct diameter is that the deck, in its lowest position is at that correct cutting height. If the wheels were too big then the deck would be too high.

I get the thing on the deck being horizontal, but the tyres are probably the same extra height in profile both front and back over what should be on it. Which is the right thing to do. Or an axle has been moved.
The mudguards have possibly been modified to provide tyre clearance.

I checked out the parts list for the yellow machine, its got fairly reasonable black and white pictures (photocopy of a photo) in it. The red one is no better than line drawings of parts.
The correct tyre sizes in the parts list are Front 350-6 rear 400-8. The tyres are real skinny, check the pics in the other thread. But they might be the same effective diameter still.
The inner and outer on the original front wheel rims are the same part.
Theres two different part numbers for the rear rims, One has the hub in it, other is rim, pic is not that good but it looks like the dish of the halves is about the same.


Look like you have two different back rims, left looks like a two piece and right looks like one.
The front rims look like a deeper outer than the inner.
They look like later wheels to me.

Those brackets on the back on the deck sure look like they are cast. The anti scalping wheels should be a 5" wheel. White nylon centre and a black rubber tread, looks like a pretty cheap part, like you would get in the wheels and castors section of a chain hardware store, same as what is on the later deck with the bolt on brackets (by that i mean theres nothing cast there, the rear of the deck is a smooth radius on the later models). Im tipping its got what its got because the tyres are too fat to take the 5" wheel. IE; dished in too far.

The difference may be with the rear axle too. I dont see anything mentioned about the axle mounting any different so its probably nothing. 25 inch is a 7/8 axle and the 28 inch is a one inch axle.

It is a RH deck, The LH decks have the belt come over the top of the spindle shaft then a 180 deg turn then around the spindle pulley. That reverses rotation.
Theres a couple of threads on the LH decks on here, have a look. I had to ask as it had me miffed too.


All in all I think that machine you have there is a great find.
Think of it as a hot rodded 70's car.

I would advise not to go pulling it apart unless you know you have in your hands the parts to put it all back to right. I dont even think that the parts would be that hard to find. To ship 4 wheels and other bits from Aus to the UK could be the deal killer. I imagine it would be a very unique machine in the UK.
You should be able to find a G65 locally. I did speak to Deutcher about a drive pulley to put a briggs on a slasher that a G65 came on originally and the guy mentioned that the parts were different. Not sure exactly how but on that machine you have the briggs crank might be a different diameter than a honda.



Can i plead, when you pull the clutch appart on the front of the motor can you please please please take heaps of photos and measurements galore for me.
That is one part that I am missing that I could possibly have to get made.



Heres something intersting. just looking at the parts page for the above clutch setup (its the worst pic of the lot), in the description it says;
Modification Rear idler pulley automatic belt adjustment introduced 6.9.73 Frame No 3191284


So it would appear there should be a frame number.
Cheers, Bob.

Hi Bob, thanks once again fro your detailed reply.

Given the tyre sizes you have stated, the wheels on mine seem to fit, it's just the current tyres that are wrong and I can replace those with the size you have detailed. This will make a difference in ride height on the rear only of about !/2" but the width will reduce by about 2 1/2" and the front will be about the same diameter but will reduce in width by about 1 1/2". That should make it look a lot better and give it more tyre clearance at the rear.
the mower certainly seems to share parts with the mini tractors and as such the anti scalping wheels should, as you say, be 5" diameter nylon ones but having said that, the mini tractors had smaller wheels, 4" front and 6" rear.
I will be pulling the engine mounted clutch apart this weekend so will be taking copious photos and measurements so watch out for these early next week.

Bob, have a look at this eBay item as, apart from the engine, it's identical to mine. Note the tyre sizes and the anti-scalping wheels and the shape of the rear guards.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Greenfie...rs&hash=item2ec20a7b5a#ht_500wt_1413

Yeah the guy has two, but i couldnt justify spending that much.

I swapped a lister diesel for one, paid $70 for the other, and the incomplete one cost me $30 with a reduction drive G42 thrown in.



Does look like they both have the same wheels as what you have.
Definatley both different to what i have as far as the rear guards and wheels go.

Rong, it seems to me you've established that your mower has the wrong engine and is the wrong colour, but other than that, it does not seem clear that it has any modifications. Bob's parts list does show smaller tyres, but it is not certain that the parts list applies to your exact model. If they don't foul on things and limit your turning circle, usually oversize tyres have some advantages. They make it more practical to operate on slightly soft ground for instance, and improve both traction and ride comfort.

Hi Grumpy, I take your point about the tyres and I will need to change the rear ones anyway as they are rubbing on the chassis. I can get hold of the correct tyres so will probably go down that route and at the same time I may as well change the front ones.
I' ve had some good replies back from Greenfield and it seems that the louvres were put in the bonnet to stop the petrol boiling on the Fuji engines as they got so hot! That would have made for interesting mowing on a hot summer's day! They think that they may have a similar machine to mine in their storage somewhere so are going to have a look for me and take some photos. I've also messaged the guy with the 2 for sale on eBay for some information, hopefully he will get back to me but as I'm not a buyer I'm not holding my breath. I must admit that if I lived in Aus I would seriously think about going for the yellow one!

Just had a reply from the guy selling the HD8's. the tyre sizes on both of his are the same as on mine, that is 13x500x6 front and 16x6.50x8 rear, so the tyres are correct after all!

It sounds as if you should get as many detailed pictures and descriptions as possible from that guy, while he still has the mowers. You may not get many other opportunities to make that kind of comparisons.

When it first became evident that his mower had the same small anti-scalping wheels as yours, together with fat tyres, it began to look as if both yours and his were built that way (unless some weird conspiracy of HD8 owners had taken place in the distant past). One of the rarest but most valuable things an equipment restorer can get, is contact with someone who has an identical machine in good condition.

Thanks Grumpy, good advice, I'll contact him to see if he will take some more shots of them for me.

Stripped the rear axle down today and can see why one of the wheels has bolts going through it. At some point the wheel must have broken so it was machined to remove some of the inner face and the centre has been machined out removing the taper fixing. A steel hub has been made and the axle machined with a new, smaller taper. I must admit that whoever did the work made quite a decent job of it bur it does leave me with a dilemma. To get it back to original I will need a new wheel and rear axle. The axle isn't a problem as I can machine a new one but the wheel will, I expect be almost impossible to get hold of unless Greenfield have one laying around! So I'm just going to replace the axle bearings and maybe make it so that the bolt fixings for the wheel are less obvious.
I've also taken the clutch off the engine and the good news is that the clutch lining is still in very good condition so doesn't need replacing but the bad news was that the clutch / pulley was cracked and had been welded (badly). I've now rewelded it and machined the face so that it runs true against the clutch lining. It's a very simple and clever mechanism and I'll be taking some photos of it tomorrow together with the rear axle.
I've also ordered new belts for both the drive and cutter, and will post the sizes once I know they are the correct ones!

Thanks for the progress report, Rong. Have you verified that the belt groove in the repaired crankshaft-pulley runs true?

I'll look forward to your pictures, which will enhance the usefulness of this archive to other HD8 owners. As you know, Rodeobob is particularly anxious to see enough details of each component of the crankshaft pulley clutch to enable him to make or commission the manufacture of the parts missing from his HD8s. However over the longer term there will be HD8 owners looking for documentation on various parts of the mower, and any dimensions, pics and sketches you can provide of any part of the mower, will be of great help.

Here are the photos of the crankshaft clutch arrangement most of which I think are self explanatory. I'll take some more shots of it as I re-assemble it on the crankshaft. I'm taking the opportunity to replace the 2 bearings, the needle roller S2016 and the thrust bearing which I think is a LJ 5/8 (the existing bearing markings are not clear).
When I stripped the clutch down I noticed that as well as the repaired crack, the drive pulley has a piece missing from it and whilst this may not cause any major problems it could cause undue belt wear. So I may make a new drive pulley / clutch arrangement from a standard pulley welded to a piece of 6" diameter x 1/4" thick steel for the clutch drive plate and to make fitting it easier mount the whole assembly using a taper lock.

Great pics.
Thanks for that.


I would guess the inner bearing is just there to space the pulley out from the crancase.

The pulleys are all steel???
I thought they might have been alloy. Well the outer with the clutch on it.
Looking at the red ones i have here i thought they were alloy. Might have to grab a magnet and check.


I think my best option will be to buy another machine that has a complete clutch.



I would say the machine you have is a MKIII or something like that.
The red being MKI the yellow i have being MKII and the two on ebay and the one you have being a MKIII.

I suppose it would be interesting to be able to validate what im thinking above with the introduction dates of the other models Greenfields went on to make.

Hi Bob
The pulleys / clutch parts are actually cast iron which I guess is why the inner part cracked maybe when someone tried to get it off the crankshaft (there's a grub screw in the V of the drive pulley and I nearly overlooked it).

It would be fairly simple to machine a new clutch up as per my notes above and would probably be a lot cheaper than buying another machine!

Thank you for posting that detail, Rong. It is surprisingly complicated, and I would say anyone who tried to parallel-engineer it without seeing the correct parts would end up doing it differently, which is inappropriate for a restoration. You can guess my opinion on the next bit: I recommend that you stick with the Greenfield design for any replacement parts you make, not because it's better, but because it's original.

Hi Grumpy. Once again I have to agree with you, the only problem is that the clutch is cast so would be rather expensive to replicate! I have asked Greenfield if they have any parts for the HD8 in stock and am waiting to hear back from them as, ideally, i'd like to replace the clutch, rear axle and 1 rear wheel!
Working on the clutch has also proved to me that the engine is definitely replacement. the crankshaft is higher than the original engine (Honda G65) and the clutch operating arm has been modified to suit. All I have to do now is find Honda G65 for it!
This restoration looks like it's going to be a bit more expensive than I originally thought and it's a shame that I wasn't living in Aus as I would have been able to get one of those HD8s on eBay that I posted few days ago which would have worked out a lot cheaper! Oh well, the joys of restoration.

Rong, from things you have said earlier I have the impression that you have access to a lathe. That means you just need a chunk of cast iron, to make a new pulley. The world is full of cast iron junk, and any bit that is bigger than your pulley in all three dimensions will do. Personally I tend to like cast iron because it machines so nicely. Yes, you do have to wear eye protection when you are turning it, but really you should anyway, so it just encourages that good habit.

The Honda G65 is an old engine, though not as old as your Briggs, and is not rare. My suggestion is that you initiate a very low intensity search for one, and meanwhile happily use the Briggs. When you find a Honda in the right condition at the right price you make the changeover. It looks as if it will involve no more than two new belts and perhaps a minor correction of the clutch operating lever.

How you go about restoring things is a personal preference. My preference is to spend very little money. In your current situation I think I would be making a new clutch pulley because that is easier than welding the one you have, or even searching for a second-hand one. I would regard the modified rear wheel and axle as a low priority problem as long as it works properly as-is, so I'd be watching for a second-hand wheel, but not worrying about it in the meantime. Incidentally, I think shipping a second-hand wheel from Australia need not be expensive if you shop around and are satisfied to ship it slowly rather than quickly. The axle shaft is awkward to ship, so I might not do it, I'd examine the feasibility of making one from a piece of bar. However I prefer "real" parts to imitations, so I'd be contacting people in Australia who have junk-class HD8s and seeing if we could do business regarding a selection of parts.

To me, expensive restoration is no fun. I derive my fun from finding cheap solutions. We have many members at Outdoorking who feel differently, and are happy to pay as much as they can afford for a perfect job achieved quickly. Both approaches seem legitimate to me, but I happen to be a cheapskate.

Note that I would not contemplate making a wheel, because that (by my standards) is way too hard to do.