Lucked out and picked up this mower at our city's Recycle Day event. Pull cord wouldn't retract; maybe that's why the owner ditched it. Cleaned & fixed that with lube in 15 minutes. Everything worked - blades, propel, wheels & deck good. However, I have never owned a GCV190 engine before, nor a dual blade system, and it does seem to vibrate more than I have experienced with GCV160's (or Briggs powered Toro's) and a single blade. I checked the flywheel with the setup below (3/8 drill bit set in a jack stand and pointed at the center of the hub) & it is spot on. Any other thoughts from HRX owners? Maybe the bigger Honda engine and the dual blades - plus some age - is normal for this model. It's certainly not shaking but I can feel a steady vibration in my hands.
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Honda HRX217 ... pickin' up bad vibrations?
ackack
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Lucked out and picked up this mower at our city's Recycle Day event. Pull cord wouldn't retract; maybe that's why the owner ditched it. Cleaned & fixed that with lube in 15 minutes. Everything worked - blades, propel, wheels & deck good. However, I have never owned a GCV190 engine before, nor a dual blade system, and it does seem to vibrate more than I have experienced with GCV160's (or Briggs powered Toro's) and a single blade. I checked the flywheel with the setup below (3/8 drill bit set in a jack stand and pointed at the center of the hub) & it is spot on. Any other thoughts from HRX owners? Maybe the bigger Honda engine and the dual blades - plus some age - is normal for this model. It's certainly not shaking but I can feel a steady vibration in my hands.
![Image]()
Blades are new. I checked them for balance anyway and they were good. Could be bent from the factory I guess. They look straight but it is hard to tell for sure because of the bends and angles. Is there a better way to check the crankshaft than my setup above? The tip of the drill bit stayed dead center in the hub as I turned the blades.
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17,351 Posts
are the knobs on the handle tightened down? the handle folds so they could be loose or something. hard to tell what is going on without being there in person. all mowers vibrate some. can't really tell how bad it is from reading words on a computer screen :laugh:
Thanks. Yeah, I know; vibration to one guy might seem perfectly normal to another.
Good idea. I did that. It's about the same with or without blades.
I have a Honda HRX217HYA , when in drive mode there is a vibration and is noisy. I thought it might be the belt, so I changed it. That didn’t help. I can push mow, without vibrating or noise. I can put it in drive mode and lift the back wheels off the ground, the wheels move just fine and there is no vibration or noise. When in drive and under load, then there is a vibration and noisy.
I have a Honda HRX217HYA , when in drive mode there is a vibration and is noisy. I thought it might be the belt, so I changed it. That didn’t help. I can push mow, without vibrating or noise. I can put it in drive mode and lift the back wheels off the ground, the wheels move just fine and there is no vibration or noise. When in drive and under load, then there is a vibration and noisy.
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2,178 Posts
Just realized the original post is 5 years old.
Where in west tn are you? Bartlett here
Where in west tn are you? Bartlett here
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