@ bluemower - Thanks very much for reply! Absolutely would be easier to decide on this, if I had better knowledge of the old mower's "ailments" :). The challenge is finding a person/shop local to me who knows Hondas and is willing to honestly assess the condition of my mower for the problems you listed above. Some big shops in my area don't have the best reputation with customers. They tend to push sales of the equipment they carry, rather than stand behind decent repair service. Contacted a few smaller places I found via Internet searches today, which say they can service any mower make/model. I'm asking directly whether they can repair/rebuild older Hondas. Hope #1 is for the HRM215 to be repaired at affordable cost - and before the front yard becomes a meadow. :-) I do agree with what you said, that the old mower is several notches in quality above most of the basic push mowers available. Decision-making is tough since I really want to avoid being "penny-wise and pound-foolish" and end up with a new mower which turns out to be a throw-away in a few years' time. However, we've only had two mowers since 1987 (a Craftsman and then the Honda), so I don't have any experience on how quality's changed among the different brands. Labor outsourcing, materials used, all those things have been impacted while the companies chase profit margins... If a new TB130 or 7021P would run me $250-$300 before tax, what's the prudent "break point" on repair costs for the Honda to where you'd say, go buy a newer mower? If the repair expense tipped the decision, what push mower would you steer me toward? Is there a middle price range that significantly pops up the quality, or is there a lot of hype in the mix? I know residential-grade mowers lack the sturdiness of their commercial "big brothers", but perhaps there's a brand or two which has more consistency throughout its product lines? I'd be grateful hearing whether there are particular features that you'd swear by paying more $$ for, which help performance or life-span of the equipment, vs. optional stuff that creates more maintenance hassles than it's worth.

Yes, you are correct. Thank you. This is the first time I've used it this season, is it normal for it to be a little hard to pull mower backwards, and the ratchet noise when you push it forwards? The plastic deck is cracked at the left rear corner. Is there a way to fix it or should I not worry about it? the crack is about 2in long.

My brother purchased a new Honda HRX217 HMA (power start) 21" Mower. Since he is so particular concerning care of his equipment, I decided to use his machine to test the quality of Honda Equipment. Will it live up to the reputation? As background, I am an engineer. The mower was purchased on May 11th 2007. The cost was roughly $900 including tax. This is the top of the line non-commercial unit. I installed a new SenDec digital hour meter to track use. The lawn it mows is sub one acre and almost entirely flat ... with a very light slope on the front lawn. Water is inexpensive and plentiful here in Nebraska, so it is watered and fertilizes heavily and mown roughly once a week. First Problem: On the second use the mower unexpectedly sputtered and died. When restarted the mower the power drive (a hydrostatic unit on these mowers) failed to work at all. The drive on these units runs off a belt from the engine shaft. The belt drives a pulley on the transmission (rear wheel drive) and speed is adjusted by a cable that rotates a shaft on the transmission that meters the fluid in the transmission. This shaft has a spring to maintain tension. The dealer claimed the belt came off and a spring fell off -- perhaps because of a stick -- and tried to charge him an $85 service fee. (I had inspected the mower before it went back to the dealer -- and could not find any obvious problem.) At this time the mower had 3 hours on it. Today, on the first use after repair, the mower sputtered and died -- and again the engine immediately restarted -- but the drive system "Hydrostatic Cruise Control Transmission" failed to operate. I believe the engine stalled because of extreme load. I believe the hydrostatic drive is responsible for the excessive load. This time I will carefully examine the unit and take photographs prior to taking it back to the dealer. Anybody else have experiences like this? I plan on carefully documenting costs and problems with this mower on a separate web page. Comments on quality of design and ergonomics: 1) The belt and springs controlling the blade rotation and the hydrostatic drive are exposed at the center of the mower deck. On Toro units this area has a separate cover. Will this exposure cause additional problems? 2) My brother has commented that the mower clogs easily with grass accumulating in the small area where the mulch door closes. 3) In moderate mowing (1 to 1.5" removal) the mower tends to leave a trail of built-up grass clippings at the edge of the mower. The buildup is heavy enough to damage the turf ... and the stripes on the lawn are unsightly. My brother is going to figure out what causes this. Owners of a previous model have made similiar comments. One suggested solution was to raise the front height 1/2" above the rear. But this means that the blade would cut once at the front and again at the rear. Seems like a way to increase the mowers workload. 4) The top speed of this mower is slightly over 4 Miles Per Hour -- a pretty good hustle while turning. Since the ground speed is controled hydrostatically, the speed can be moderated easily by partially relasing the drive bar as you are mowing. (There is a separate lever that sets the maximum speed). 5) It is very nice to have a throttle control. The Toro units have eliminated this control. With the Honda you can easily set the engine to a very quiet idle while you leave the mower unattended to move items or to just move the mower area you want to mow.

I've had the older Honda boxes apart- when time was worth less I guess. Inside the transmission, a shift fork had fatigued and I was able to rebuilt it with weld - as no parts were serviceable like yours. There is a tension cable for the drive that essentially needs a touch of slack 1/8" +-. The speed selector cable just really has to match where the detent in the gearbox. It sounds to me like your transmission has a clutching issue in the box. When you pull back on the tension lever- that fork likely slides the clutching collar into the mating gear. Best advise: Inspect the easy stuff, and then decide how dirty you want your hands to get with this. Honda drive work just plain sucks. These transmissions are serviced as assemblies only. Any internal correction will come from you and your machine shop abilities.