OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Finding and Swapping Tip & Curb Side Finds Old Greenfield ride on

A mate who collects salvage told me he had an old ride on along with some Victa powertorque's. Was happy to see it is a Greenfield and I think a Honda engine.

Any help with ID would be appreciated as would love to do it up one day.









Didn't get body panels or seat unfortunately, but she seems pretty good for her age.

That's an HD-8 Greenfield - their first model. New parts are not available. Original engines were Fuji (Subaru Robin), or Honda. The Hondas seem to have been better - we're told Greenfield had trouble heeping the Fujis from overheating. You might find this thread useful:
https://www.outdoorking-forum.com.au/forum/u...amp;Main=7439&Number=39215#Post39215

Yep, and that's obviously a late model replacement engine. The original would have been a sidevalve Honda G65, most likely.

Gadge, from the previous thread it seems they started off with Fuji, then dual-sourced it with the Honda G65, and may have finished up with nearly all G65s because of the Fujis tending to boil their fuel tanks due to air flow restrictions imposed by Greenfield having a pretty engine hood over the whole thing. The hood became louvred after a while but that wasn't sufficient.

Grumpy, that's very likely. I also seem to recall that the Fuji Robin they fitted in the early 70's was a bit underpowered compared to the Honda. Only recall running across one of those, back in the day. Just to create more confusion, here's an extract from a 1971 Supaswift [the then Greenfield agents for the southern states] ad that mentions four engine options, and some interesting attachments:






See if this link to the full page works. I can only recall the Fuji Robin fitted as being 6hp rating, but then Greenfield tagged the Honda as 8hp [maker's rating 6.8hp].

Grumpy,
thanks for that thread, very good and thought provoking. Sure looks like a challenge to do one up. Shame Rong didn't keep posting he certainly seemed keen.
BTW seems Rodeobob is selling his:

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/suns...her-slasher-and-ride-on-mower/1056511530

Heck, I wish he was nearby and would separate the mowers, that's if one would be the same model, they appear to change within the model(?)

Gadge,
fantastic extract, (saved your link). Can't quite get my head around a ground engaging implement!
Just looked and couldn't save link or your extract, must be doing something wrong.

Gadge, I strongly disapprove of the use of ground-engaging implements with the Greenfield transmission type: I believe the rate of clutch wear would be excessive, and it's just not the right design for that type of service. The gearing is far too high even for manoeuvring the machine itself in a tight space, let alone trying to drag a three-tine ripper, as in their picture, or push a dozer blade. That's like trying to pull a two-horse float in stop-go traffic when you've only got fifth gear.

Bushie, I hadn't known Bob was selling his Greenfields, but he's had them for years and they do take up a lot of space in his yard. Perhaps if you talk to him on the phone, he may be prepared to sell you some parts if they don't sell as a single lot. I suggest you abandon the dream of finding a single HD-8 that has all of the parts you want, yet is so far down the track that it's cheap enough for wrecking.

Grumpy, agreed on the unsuitability of these implements for a Greenfield. Trying to market a quite good mower as something it wasn't, a mini-tractor.

I suspect it was an attempt to take a cue from the US market, which no doubt had a number of true 'mini-tractors' on offer back then. The first example of those I saw was later in the 1970's, after the Whitlam government dropped the tariff barriers. It was a 20hp Ariens hydrostatic transmission demo model brought in by the then importers, Mobilco Ltd. Very impressive, by the standards of the day! Don't think they sold many off it, though it went to a lot of farm field days over a couple of years.

In any event, I doubt the Greenfield implements had much sales success. The only one I've seen 'in the metal' was the front-mount slasher; and only a single example.

Most of the US machines sold as various types of "tractor" had light-duty hydrostatic transmissions that failed miserably in that application. Also, they distinguished between "lawn tractors" that were not rated for ground-engaging implements, and "garden tractors", most of which did have that rating. There were some serious micro-tractors sold as garden tractors, and some that were pretty much lawn tractors with heavy-duty transmissions that were either hydrostatic or low-geared manual shift. They'd both work if they were treated sensibly, but there is a way to break anything if you try hard enough. I've read a post on a US site by a guy who got on his brother's hydrostatic lawn tractor and continuously stomped the forward-reverse pedal full stroke back and forth to emulate the antics of a rodeo horse. He quickly broke a tooth off the final drive gear - it didn't last long enough to cook the hydro trans. I seem to have read posts on local sites where people had done the same thing, with a similar result.

Bushie, I second grumpy on the feasibility of trying to find the bits to restore that HD-8.

There were only fairly minor detail changes during the HD-x [where x=engine hp] model run.
Paint colour is the obvious one; the earliest were red.

The others were mainly concerned with the engine make; the Honda G65D's had the LH side of the bonnet cut away to clear the fuel tank; the Fuji Robin EY25D's didn't need that. The later examples, as grumpy mentions, had louvres formed in the bonnet top surface for better cooling.

Front wheels/tyres were larger/wider on the later ones, too; and the front axle mount design changed.

These all ran horizontal-shaft engines, not the vertical shafts that the Tractor-x and all later series used. All recoil starters. Electric start came in with the vertical shaft engines.

The other visible differences on Rodeobob's stable [front grilles, the big seat] are all what grumpy terms [tongue firmly in cheek ] 'tenant improvements'.

Dunno; try right-clicking on them, and see if you get a menu with save options. The extract is a PNG format graphic file, uploaded to the outdoorking server, not an external link.

A pic from the same page as the above ad; Fuji Robin engine I'd say:

Thanks for that Gadge, aside from agreeing with the views you expressed, I'm now in awe of your knowledge of early Greenfields. Please stick around, the forum needs you.

Thank Gadge and grumpy.
Maybe someday some parts or another HD8 will come up, perhaps someone reading this thread may have above.
Haven't rung Bob yet, by the sound of some of his adds he doesn't like to be bothered to much.

Bushie, I think you need to invest some effort in this to make progress. If you watch Bob's advertisement closely, you should know when it stops appearing, meaning either he's sold the machines or he's given up. At that point if you phone him, you can see if he can help you.

Bob doesn't much care for pointless conversations or people who waste his time rather than clearly and concisely, offer him something he wants. If you just keep that in mind, I think you'll find him a helpful, knowledgeable guy - that is certainly my view of him.

Grumpy, good suggestion. Understand where Bob is coming from and have no doubt he would be "a helpful, knowledgeable guy", as have enjoyed reading and learning from many of his posts.

Hi Bushie, Yes mate, we really miss Rodeobob on the forum, he was a real character and helpful with his replies.
He pops in from time to time, but he must be busy, perhaps with his collection....