If buying new the HRX217 is really hard to beat. I have two and love them. One was a ... project. A $30 project with a destroyed engine. If you want to keep your old mower and breathe new life in to it the Predator 173 vertical engine is amazing. One of the HRX217s has that Predator 173. It performs absolutely as good as the Honda GCV190 on the other machine. So.... buy new? Honda HRX217. Fix old? Predator 173. Either way you'll have a mower that'll last years and years on end.
Please recommend a mower!
- Thread starter dvancleve
- Start date
Originally Posted by dvancleve
Anyway, it looks like several parts that probably are not replaceable for a reasonable amount or possibly available at all don't have a lot of life left. The friction material in the blade brake is cracked and the rivets are loose. The spring on the clutch cable is wired to the arm, and the cup that goes between the blade bolts and blade isn't far from wearing through from rubbing on stuff. I suppose I'll use it till something breaks that I can't or don't want to replace, not sure I want to make room for two mowers so maybe I won't do anything until then...
Thanks for the suggestions, Doug
Well I should have tried JB Welding the cracked brake pad. Not sure how well that would've worked, but it came apart and I lost it the last time I mowed
At some point in the past, only the friction material was available, but as far as I can tell only the whole pivoting blade brake assembly is available now. It's something like $60 plus shipping, not worth spending that on this old mower. I did find an article where somebody cobbled athe new one together from a cut/filed/drilled Honda Accord brake pad. I need to swap out the rear brake pads on my Subaru, maybe there's enough friction material on one of those to do something with. Any better ideas? Thanks, Doug
Anyway, it looks like several parts that probably are not replaceable for a reasonable amount or possibly available at all don't have a lot of life left. The friction material in the blade brake is cracked and the rivets are loose. The spring on the clutch cable is wired to the arm, and the cup that goes between the blade bolts and blade isn't far from wearing through from rubbing on stuff. I suppose I'll use it till something breaks that I can't or don't want to replace, not sure I want to make room for two mowers so maybe I won't do anything until then...
Thanks for the suggestions, Doug
Well I should have tried JB Welding the cracked brake pad. Not sure how well that would've worked, but it came apart and I lost it the last time I mowed
Originally Posted by dvancleve
Originally Posted by dvancleve
Anyway, it looks like several parts that probably are not replaceable for a reasonable amount or possibly available at all don't have a lot of life left. The friction material in the blade brake is cracked and the rivets are loose. The spring on the clutch cable is wired to the arm, and the cup that goes between the blade bolts and blade isn't far from wearing through from rubbing on stuff. I suppose I'll use it till something breaks that I can't or don't want to replace, not sure I want to make room for two mowers so maybe I won't do anything until then...
Thanks for the suggestions, Doug
Well I should have tried JB Welding the cracked brake pad. Not sure how well that would've worked, but it came apart and I lost it the last time I mowed
At some point in the past, only the friction material was available, but as far as I can tell only the whole pivoting blade brake assembly is available now. It's something like $60 plus shipping, not worth spending that on this old mower. I did find an article where somebody cobbled athe new one together from a cut/filed/drilled Honda Accord brake pad. I need to swap out the rear brake pads on my Subaru, maybe there's enough friction material on one of those to do something with. Any better ideas? Thanks, Doug
Hmm, I wouldn't mess with the blade friction brake to be honest. You don't want something coming apart under there and flying across the lawn into a car or house window. I've repaired a lot of those blade brakes and I hate them. It's a nice feature for someone who has to empty the bag a lot and has a hard time starting the mower, but in my experience they only seem to last so long before they break. Mowers that are left with wet grass under them seem to accelerate this timeline.
Originally Posted by dvancleve
Anyway, it looks like several parts that probably are not replaceable for a reasonable amount or possibly available at all don't have a lot of life left. The friction material in the blade brake is cracked and the rivets are loose. The spring on the clutch cable is wired to the arm, and the cup that goes between the blade bolts and blade isn't far from wearing through from rubbing on stuff. I suppose I'll use it till something breaks that I can't or don't want to replace, not sure I want to make room for two mowers so maybe I won't do anything until then...
Thanks for the suggestions, Doug
Well I should have tried JB Welding the cracked brake pad. Not sure how well that would've worked, but it came apart and I lost it the last time I mowed
Hmm, I wouldn't mess with the blade friction brake to be honest. You don't want something coming apart under there and flying across the lawn into a car or house window. I've repaired a lot of those blade brakes and I hate them. It's a nice feature for someone who has to empty the bag a lot and has a hard time starting the mower, but in my experience they only seem to last so long before they break. Mowers that are left with wet grass under them seem to accelerate this timeline.
Originally Posted by Clayslayer
If buying new the HRX217 is really hard to beat. I have two and love them. One was a ... project. A $30 project with a destroyed engine. If you want to keep your old mower and breathe new life in to it the Predator 173 vertical engine is amazing. One of the HRX217s has that Predator 173. It performs absolutely as good as the Honda GCV190 on the other machine. So.... buy new? Honda HRX217. Fix old? Predator 173. Either way you'll have a mower that'll last years and years on end.
The HRX217 is a great mower with the Nexite deck and Honda engine, but I just don't trust the Honda transmissions. I've replaced plenty of them over my 14 years running a small engine repair business on the side, and a lot of the newer hydrostatic transmissions are $200+ just for the part. A BITOG'er just put in a thread on this section of the forum a few days ago about his new HRX transmission having whine so he returned it for another one. I consider them a luxury mower. Very nice to use, but the purchase price and repair price on something that is only 21" wide and less than 6hp is just crazy. I have the next best mower in my opinion which can be bought new for $600. It's the Toro Super Recycler with the Honda GCV160. Personal Pace, aluminum deck, Honda engine, and no blade brake. I've actually never had a personal pace transmission fail (so far), just cables that needed adjusting. In my opinion (we all have them) I think it is the best value. Sure you could go buy the ExMark commercial 21" super duper mower, but at the price point you could just pay a kid to mow the lawn for 10 years haha.
If buying new the HRX217 is really hard to beat. I have two and love them. One was a ... project. A $30 project with a destroyed engine. If you want to keep your old mower and breathe new life in to it the Predator 173 vertical engine is amazing. One of the HRX217s has that Predator 173. It performs absolutely as good as the Honda GCV190 on the other machine. So.... buy new? Honda HRX217. Fix old? Predator 173. Either way you'll have a mower that'll last years and years on end.
The HRX217 is a great mower with the Nexite deck and Honda engine, but I just don't trust the Honda transmissions. I've replaced plenty of them over my 14 years running a small engine repair business on the side, and a lot of the newer hydrostatic transmissions are $200+ just for the part. A BITOG'er just put in a thread on this section of the forum a few days ago about his new HRX transmission having whine so he returned it for another one. I consider them a luxury mower. Very nice to use, but the purchase price and repair price on something that is only 21" wide and less than 6hp is just crazy. I have the next best mower in my opinion which can be bought new for $600. It's the Toro Super Recycler with the Honda GCV160. Personal Pace, aluminum deck, Honda engine, and no blade brake. I've actually never had a personal pace transmission fail (so far), just cables that needed adjusting. In my opinion (we all have them) I think it is the best value. Sure you could go buy the ExMark commercial 21" super duper mower, but at the price point you could just pay a kid to mow the lawn for 10 years haha.
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