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Scored a Honda HRC216!!!

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locallawncare.ca

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
So my brother's boss was giving away his old lawnmower and asked me if I wanted it, I said sure. Low and behold it's a Honda HRC216. While I am no stranger to commercial mowers this think is built like a tank. Overall impressions will be given in a while once I actualy get to use it in the feild. First impressions as follows.

1. Thing is solid, built like a tank.
2. Has large wheels both front & back.
3. Honda motor took 3 pulls to start, but likely I can fix that quickly.
4. Purrs like a kitten. Meow.
5. Hyrdostatic drive is responsive and slightly foreign to me.
6. Controls seem slightly awkward compared to a typical 2-bail Toro/Exmark.
7. Overall seems great and it was free so I have nothing negative to say.
8. Was missing the bag, but had the mulch plug, my brother may be able to find it(hopefully).

Overall this thing is in great shape with the exception of the air filter which seemed to have a small forest inside of it(the picture is after I brushed off some of the vegetation). The underside of the deck is something out of a horror movie, haven't seen anything like it, lol, but frankly if it was clean I would have been surprised. Couple pics for now, more to come in a week or so once I get a chance to clean it up, sharpen blade, change oil, clean filters, etc. Also looking forward to how it cuts, I almost always mulch and have heard great things about Honda's mulching abilities, this model has the single blade with gator wings on it, let me know what you guys thing about this mower besides the fact it was a total score. Thanks.

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#2 ·
That is an excellent score for a freebie. Make sure the machine isn't kind of like wobbling or shaking at low idle. After you start the machine and idle down to low to let it warm up, check to make sure there isn't any noticeable shaking going on. If there is that means that she is out of balance. Either badly messed up blades or the shaft to spindle is shot.

What blade is on the machine? From your picture it looks like a single blade? Does it have the spacer on top of the main blade? The machine has 2 blades normally, the bottom blade and the top extra mulching blade.
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
Not sure to be honest, I only has the single one on it, not sure about the spacer XYZ, I will get a parts manual online and see what is missing or what blade to get, I'm sure it will function without it, but dual would likely be better and might affect the height of cut, not sure, machine had no vibrations both at low idle, full rpm and with blade engaged, overall it has not been abused, my brother's boss used it for his own lawn only(he owns a cabinet company and doesn't buy cheap stuff, hence this mower for a small residential property).
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
So apparently Honda offered some sort of spacer to run a single blade, not sure when this was introduced, this model may predate the twin blade setup, haven't been able to find a parts manual but PARTSTREE has the diagrams and it shows a single high-lift blade for this serial number. Apparently some commercial operators complained about the twin blades clogging, maybe someone who has ran Honda's for a while could chime in, either way it's not really an issue, the blade is a lot thicker than my Toro 21" which has the blade that curves downward toward the tip, so the 2 are completely different.
 
#6 ·
I'm extremely sorry I did not notice immediately that you are in Canada. Your version is the Canada model I am assuming? Your end letters are HXC. Here in the united states the end letters are HXA. Here is a quick one page parts look at the K3HXA model and the K1HXA model for the U.S.A. from planopower.

http://www.planopower.com/store/honda/hrc216k1hxa.php

http://www.planopower.com/store/honda/hrc216k3hxa.php

As you can see the K3HXA has entirely different blades compared to the K1HXA or the K1HXC. Yes it seems you can run double blades on your model. We have the spacers for our model. The machine works quite differently with just the bottom blade and the spacer inserted. We only use the single blade with the bagger or the mulch plug out. Both blades work quite well with the mulch plug in or out, and the bagger as well.

These are finish trim mowers. They work most efficiently if you are in reality only taking 1/3 of the grass height off per cut. You can run them at full speed when they are doing what they were meant to be doing. If you are constantly using them to cut more than a third of the grass off per cut, they can sometimes clog if you are going to fast for conditions or get that slowed effect from not enough horsepower slamming into tall growth. Any mower can feel that issue in my opinion in non optimum conditions. Don't get me wrong, you can absolutely mow down 4 to 8 inches of growth. It will just take longer.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
Thanks for the info XYZ, no need to apologize for anything, Yes mine is the Canadian version, didn't think about there being 2 versions until you mentioned it, when I was looking at Honda snowblowers I realized the same thing. So you are basically saying that the twin blade setup is better for mulching and the single blade is better suited to bagging? I'm sure the way it's setup is the way it came from the dealer, apparently the machine is 10-15 years old, not sure exactly. I will do some cutting with it setup the way it is and look into the parts needed to make the twin blade setup, this mower is basically a back-up to my back-up. I have 2 Toro 22156, that are my primary production machines. Thanks again XYZ.
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
So I gave the mower a bit of TLC, changed the oil, cleaned filters, cleaned and checked plug, removed and cleaned fuel bowl,scraped the underside of deck, sharpened and inspected blade(has a chunk out of the middle). I also adjusted the carb/choke so now it starts on the first pull. Added a tiny-tach so I could check the rpm, then I was planning on lengthening the pull cord and relocating it to the normal lawn mower position(on the upper right hand side of the handle), once I took off the recoil assembly and removed the short cord I founf that the spring would no longer recoil back, doesn't matter which way I spin or what I do it simply has no more tension. I think it must have came off on the inside of the housing or something, there is nothing visibly broken and the recoil is one assembly and cannot be taken apart, so I gotta order a new one (ouch). So currently at a stand still, however I did a little test run after fixing the carb and this thing is quick, at full speed it really moves and is almost a brisk job to keep up with. I also was able to adjust the handle so it is much higher now, before I was almost hunching over, I had to remove one of the screws that holds the handle, you can see it in the picture, the threaded hole on the bracket no longer lines up with the hole on the handle, however there is 3 screws in total so it seems very secure, this mower appears to have no way of adjusting the height of the handle without removing one of the securing screws, I made the handle slightly higher than the one on my Toro which is at the highest position, attached are a couple of pics.

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#9 ·
locallawncare.ca said:
So my brother's boss was giving away his old lawnmower and asked me if I wanted it, I said sure. Low and behold it's a Honda HRC216. While I am no stranger to commercial mowers this think is built like a tank. Overall impressions will be given in a while once I actualy get to use it in the feild. First impressions as follows.

1. Thing is solid, built like a tank.
2. Has large wheels both front & back.
3. Honda motor took 3 pulls to start, but likely I can fix that quickly.
4. Purrs like a kitten. Meow.
5. Hyrdostatic drive is responsive and slightly foreign to me.
6. Controls seem slightly awkward compared to a typical 2-bail Toro/Exmark.
7. Overall seems great and it was free so I have nothing negative to say.
8. Was missing the bag, but had the mulch plug, my brother may be able to find it(hopefully).

Overall this thing is in great shape with the exception of the air filter which seemed to have a small forest inside of it(the picture is after I brushed off some of the vegetation). The underside of the deck is something out of a horror movie, haven't seen anything like it, lol, but frankly if it was clean I would have been surprised. Couple pics for now, more to come in a week or so once I get a chance to clean it up, sharpen blade, change oil, clean filters, etc. Also looking forward to how it cuts, I almost always mulch and have heard great things about Honda's mulching abilities, this model has the single blade with gator wings on it, let me know what you guys thing about this mower besides the fact it was a total score. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Mine still starts easily on the first pull with very little effort. You will come to like and appreciate the "slightly akward controls". It took a while and I would not want to go back to the 2 bail control that I used for over 20 years. I passed on the Honda because of the controls a few years ago, but after owning a couple of John Deere 2 bail control units I have come to like this set up better.
 
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#11 ·
Great mowers, although heavy (110 lbs). Cuts very well, whether mulching or bagging. Check trans fluid.
The controls may seem weird, but you will get used to it quickly. I like the Honda controls better than my eXmark metro 26 controls (2 bail).
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Discussion starter · #12 ·
Thanks for the positive feedback, I actually like the handlebar design(the way it curves down the sides and such), the drive bail just seems a little bit too far away from the handle, I like the 2-bail design because it is literally a one handed operation, but I do agree that overall it is a good design just different and hence foreign to me personally. The carb adjustment was simple, over time it seems like the choke mechanism doesn't fully choke so by simply turning the screw to allow further movement solved the problem, I'm sure the other TLC also helped. Yes the machine is heavy compared to my Toro 22156 (90lbs), however this thing rolls like butter, I swear even in my garage which is pretty flat it wanted to roll occasionally and when you push it over pavement it feels really smooth. I will check the hydro fluid, I haven't opened it up yet to get a closer look at how it actually operates, I assume the manual (which I have yet to download) will hopefully have some information on the hydro fluid, etc.
 
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