I need help! I kill lawnmowers!

[bunnys]

Well, the day before yesterday I did it again, I killed the self-propel on my new lawnmower that I bought this past May.

First a little background. About 7 years ago I replaced my old Eager 1 self-propelled (like 15 years old) with a new Lawn Boy self-propelled. I used it once and broke the self-propelled. Took it back to HD and got a Toro. Even though I had that lawnmower 6 years I broke the self-propel function like 5 times. The summer before last, I had the entire self-propelled gear box rebuilt. That time it cost $80 and I said to myself if it broke again, I'd just get a new lawnmower because by then I'd fixed it so many times I'd paid for a new lawnmower. At the end of last season the rebuilt self-propelled broke so this spring I went out and got another brand (Honda) to the tune of $500.

My expectations were low. "I don't know," I said to the salesman. Five hundred dollars is a lot of money and I don't even know if it will last the season. If I could be guaranteed I'd get at least a year out of this, I'd buy it." "Oh, you'll get 10 years, easy," he replied. I smiled wanly (ah, innocence,) thought I gotta have a new one since I don't have a goat and bought it anyway, knowing it wouldn't last. But I was still hopeful (or do I mean naive?) This one had to be different from all the rest. This one had rear wheel drive!

I didn't expect much. Just one season. Was that too much to ask? Apparently so as yesterday the self-propel bit the proverbial dust.

What's wrong with me? Why do lawnmowers hate me? Or at least, why do gear-shift boxes on self-propelled lawn mowers hate me?

No, I do not engage the self-propel and then pull the lawnmower backwards across the lawn. I don't mow at a 45 degree angle and I regularly disengage the self-propel function as I turn the corners?

Please help! I'm beginning to get a complex! Any ideas?

[JaneV2.0]

My hero!

[boss mare]

When we bought our lawn mower.... we got 3 year warrentee and good thing as it broke down the first and second year... The second year it was deemed to cost more moeny to fix it than it was worth... So they gave us a new one And that one we got a 3 year warrentee

[bae]

I....use a scythe. Quiet, peaceful, good exercise, and when the self-propel feature breaks, I won't care about the grass anymore.

[ToomuchStuff]

You do confuse the heck out of those who might try to help. What the heck type of mower is it (make, model number)? Rear drive are personally my preference, but that is due mostly to hills (baggers will way down and cause a push factor on the wheels), while front wheel drive are fine on flat land until the bags get full. (can't mulch all the time, need green stuff for compost bins)

Mowers do work different ways. There are some that have belts (tall grass or wet grass can get in and cause slipping), some have cogs in the wheels (under hubcaps and grass can do the same, to the point it will break off the plastic gears if not maintained), while others have issues with the cables either rusting, stretching, or getting broke from bending the handle (so the trigger is actually the broke mechanism). I've replaced multiple cables on lawnmowers, from the drive ones, to the safety kill cable. I have also replaced wheels with broken gears as well as just a general cleaning of the lawnmower (should be maintenance). Never had to replace a gearbox and to goof one of them up, I would have to wonder if your in the wrong speed (like trying to drive 25 mph in 5th gear)?

[goldensmom]

How unusual. We still have my parents nearly 45 year old corded Black and Decker, just gave our 20 year old self-propelled Lawn Boy away and our self-propelled/electric start Toro is on year 6. All are in good working condition and the Toro is like new. I had a similar problem with Electrolux vacuums, expensive, kept breaking so I bought a cheap Hoover at ¼ the money and it works fine as does my 30 year old Panasonic. Maybe try buying a cheap lawnmower.

[Tussiemussies]

Maybe buy the old-fashioned the of lawn-mower?

[bunnys]

You do confuse the heck out of those who might try to help. What the heck type of mower is it (make, model number)?

Thanks for all the suggestions about a scythe and manual mower everyone but I have nearly a half acre to mow and I am a middle-aged woman with no kids and I must have self-propelled to mow this lawn. I just spent $500 on this mower this past May and over the past 6 years buying another new mower and spending as much as the original cost of that mower on repairs. There ain't no way I'm putting another thin dime on another new mower.

Toomuchstuff: The mower is a Honda HRR21VKA push mower with rear-wheel self-propel function. It was working fine until 2 mows ago when I started the mower and it just took off without me even though the self-propel was not engaged. I finally got it under control by playing around with the give on the self-propel lever and mowed with it even though it was working weird. Even when I pulled it out of the shed that day, when I rolled it backward (not even running,) the rear wheels didn't want to turn. While I was mowing that day, when I had to back up, I had to lift the back of the mower off the ground to do so and when I did the rear wheels spun when there was no friction of them against the ground. After that mow, I decided I was going to take the mower to be looked at at the end of the season. The other day when I took it out to mow, all the same problems were present that I'd seen the prior time. I ran the mower about 2 lengths of the lawn and then it flat out broke. Lever depressed and yet NOTHING.

Not trying to be confusing, just trying to be a little humorous with this bad luck I've had with all types of self-propelled features on all these lawnmowers I've had. If I couldn't laugh, I'd have to cry.

But the consistent theme here is that the only problem I've had with any of these mowers is the self-propelled function. Everything else about the mowers works like a charm. I'm actually very frustrated and angry here and would appreciate any ideas you can give me.

And of course every time I take any one of these mowers up to be serviced I get a different person and they don't give a rat's @ss about my tale of woe and they just look to do the easiest fix so they can get their fee and get me out of there. So I don't think I'm getting closer to getting a resolution here.

Thanks.

[bae]

As a baseline, I'm nearly 50 years old, it takes me about 8 hours to properly mow an acre of tall grass in a relaxed fashion. And the practice develops flexibility and strength. Mowing is such light work though that a child can do it, so if you did have kids, you could force your "serfs" to earn their keep :-)

Shorter ornamental lawn grass goes more quickly.

If you break it down into 30 minute chunks every day while doing your other house/yardwork, you don't even notice it.

If you add up the time you spend fussing with the lawnmower, the cost of buying new ones every few years, and all that, who knows, you might even break even on time :-)

[goldensmom]

Maybe buy the old-fashioned the of lawn-mower?

If by old fashioned you mean a reel, push type mower then my advice is….don’t do it. It does cut beautifully if your lawn is small, perfectly level and you keep the grass cut short and often but otherwise it is quite laborious. Of course I am speaking from my own experience as we have a very small section of lawn that I cut with a reel mower. You, however, may like the exercise and it does give a great sense of accomplishment when it is done.

[The Storyteller]

A half acre warrants a riding mower. You are almost there at $500, so you might as well go the full monty. A riding mower would make short work of your lawn and barely get warmed up. It would last forever. Then, keep your non-self propelled Honda for corners and other hard to get to places.

Bae, I have tried the scythe and while it is extremely sharp and cool, I don't see me doing an acre with it, let alone my 8. But then, my heart currently operates at 30% efficiency, so things are much harder for me now days. :)

I also think it depends on the type grass. Kudos to you for using one, though.

[artist]

http://www.lehmans.com/store/Outdoors___Lawn_Care_and_Equipment___Mascot_Silent _Cut_21__Reel_Mower___450252?Args=

[The Storyteller]

http://www.lehmans.com/store/outdoors___Lawn_Care_and_Equipment___Mascot_Silent _Cut_21__Reel_Mower___450252?Args=

I was reading this on my phone and when I first saw the product name my brain saw "masochist" and I thought, for a half acre lawn? How appropriate.

[ToomuchStuff]

My backup, that used to be my backup's backup, is a reel mower (sister used it after a kid, and I bought it from her garage sale for $10 and sharpened it up). I used to have multiple mowers, and the next time I get one, it may not be self propelled. Regular push mowers without the self propelled are a LOT lighter and easier to push. The only possible issue would be with hills. Both of my self propelled were bought for me.

I think your missing part of the model number. (label on the mower)

First, when you notice a problem, you should NOT ignore it. Second was this mower assembled when you bought it? It is currently under warranty, and your repair should be covered, and you might ask for a maintenance lesson on it. YouTube is a good sight for things like this. In the middle of typing this last night, I fell asleep and when I woke up, it was next to impossible get to bed. For things like appliance and mower repair, don't forget to look for other forums, or searching the symptoms. I did find one on YouTube on disassembly to check and change the belt, but I doubt that is it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5mMNl8nqoQ&feature=related This still may help as there is an older model of Honda, that describes your symptoms (missing spring, video close to the bottom): http://eddiecarrara.hubpages.com/hub/Honda-Harmony-215-Transmission-Problems
Hope these help. I am off to work for another long day.

[bunnys]

Toomuchstuff:

My model number is the Honda HRR216VKA. I confirmed on the mower and owner's manual.

It is under warranty. It has a 3 year warranty plus another like 2 years bc of the time I bought it at HD. I only bought the mower in May of this year.

Yes, I think you're right. I am CONVINCED this is an operator error and it may be because of maintenance (or, rather that lack of maintenance) I'm doing.

There is no way I could be having this much bad luck. The guy at Northern Tool where I dropped it today said very rarely do they have to fix issues with self-propel. (Yes, I told him my tale of woe and he appeared to listen.) He also said that long grass can pack into the mower causing the self-propel to not work correctly and then set it up to break. He also said this is exacerbated by mowing wet grass. While I don't mow a hay field, I do usually mow when the grass is rather long and there are times when the height of the grass cuts off the mower. Sometimes I mow the ground wet. So I don't know.

I am going to get this fixed and then I am going to make this mower work. I am not getting a scythe or a manual push mower or a riding mower. I'm not spending any more money. And as I said, I have a rather large lawn. I just need to know how to make sure I don't do this to it again. Even if I don't have to pay to have it fixed, it's still hassle.

Thanks for everyone's ideas and thoughts.

[bae]

Make sure they explain to you in detail what broke, why it broke, and how you can avoid/fix it in the future.

[The Storyteller]

And mow regularly.

And wait till the grass is dry. :)

[bunnys]

Bae and Storyteller:

Absolutely for all three!

This must stop. I'm done.

[ToomuchStuff]

If your going to mow it like a field (irregular, wait til it is long) then you shouldn't be using a mower, but something more like a brush cutter or string trimmer. Wet can be a problem but isn't always avoidable (have to slow it down and clean it then).

That is a more complete number then what you listed before. (needed for parts sites)

[bunnys]

You're right, I left the 6 out. Whoops.

I'm not going to mow it like a field. It's a regular lawn. But when I get it back I am going to mow it more frequently and also going to clean out the deck underside every time I use it from now on--in addition to any other suggestions they give me.

[ToomuchStuff]

One trick an older neighbor lady up the street, taught me years ago, is to spray pam (or other stick cooking spray) under the deck. It was harder for her to turn the mower over on her gas one, then the electric she used at her mom's (she was in her early 70's when she showed me this trick).
They also make a tool that helps with cleaning them, however all it is, is a putty knife, that the edges have been made into corners. She scrapped an old putty knife on the concrete so the corners weren't so sharp.

[bunnys]

Got the lawnmower back yesterday and today went out to mow.

The guy at Northern Tool told me that the problem was that the design of the lawnmower was such that the blade was kicking the grass up into transmission which clogged the self-propel. He showed me the problem. The lawnmower is designed so that there is a difficult to remove and awkward to replace with 4 tightly positioned screws metal plate that covers the self-propel belt. However, the way it's designed is that it only partially covers the belt. And it is kind of funneled to drive grass clippings up into the transmission so this problem will happen over and over.

I complained vociferously to him. He said when it happens again I'll just need to remove the metal plate and clean out the grass clippings. I looked at the plate and how difficult it is to get at the bolts and I'm like "I can't do that. That would take me an hour to remove and would involve many scraped knuckles and a lot of thrown wrenches." He's like "it shouldn't take you more than 15 minutes to remove the plate." I'm like "it shouldn't take you more than 15 minutes to remove the plate and you do this for a living." He replies "where do you live? I'll come over and fix it for you if it ever breaks again" meaning he'll come over off the clock and fix it for me when it breaks again and have me pay him out of pocket. Is he kidding?

Resolved to not have this problem again, I came home and this morning, when the dew was completely dried off the grass, I went out to mow. I had done approximately 60% of the front lawn when the d@mn thing broke again. Enlisting the help of my handy neighbor, he came over and spent 45 minutes removing the plate and cleaning out the grass but couldn't get the belt back on that the guy @ Northern Tool had not replaced correctly. So my mower is once again broken and I'm $37. poorer.

I think the time has come to throw a hissy fit. I will be calling Honda back tomorrow...

I LITERALLY cannot believe this.

[pinkytoe]

Our lawnmower went through fits and starts and finally died a week ago. We reckoned that having it repaired again at $75 was too much so just went out and bought another used one for $60. Our neighborhood lawnmower service guy said that the newer ethanol gasoline if left in the tank when not in use, causes major damage (soemthing about warping the diaphragm) to small engines. I am not mechanically minded so I don't understand the explanation. However, he said it will happen again and again if the gasoline is not used up with each mowing. We had wanted to go the electric route but boy are they expensive and as much as I hate lawns - I just couldn't justify it right now.

[bunnys]

I killed it again.

Got it back from Northern 2 weeks ago. Mowed the front when I got it back. Got it out again today and mowed the back. Then 2 swipes into the front it broke again.

Same deal. Grass being funneled up into the transmission where it's clumping and pushing the self-propel drive belt off.

I'm going to call Honda again this Monday and tell them I'm done. I am no longer willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I want my money back or I'll never buy another piece of Honda power equipment again as long as I live and I'll tell everyone I know this tale of woe so hopefully they'll never buy another piece of Honda power equipment again.

If they say they'll give me another lawnmower I'll say "ok but if it breaks once, I'm insisting on my money back."

This is preposterous. And exhausting.