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The right rear drive wheel pinion, bushing, key, and spring were all rusted up and frozen. I pulled both rear wheels apart and cleaned up all of the parts now I'm wondering what is the best grease to use in the rear wheel parts. Wheel bearing grease, regular moly type grease that you grease the various grease fittings on large tractors,......?

I personally would not grease any drive components on a push mower drive system. It will only attract dirt and ruin components faster. If you feel a need to lube them used a dry graphite type lube. Just my opinion.

You need a dry lubricant for those parts or they pick up dust and grind.
I use CRC white lithium spray grease often also called chassis grease.
If you are the type of person who will service the wheels every season without fail then any of the dry chain greases hey make for racing push bikes is better but it does need to be reapplied a lot more often

Rivets and Bertsmobile1. I heartily agree that grease will pick up dirt and grit but I need to put something on them because they were all rusted and dry on the right wheel. The last two Toro mowers I have had, have zerk fittings on both rear wheel mechanisms, to periodically grease them. The pinion and drive system on this Honda HRR216 is almost identical to the ones on the Toro.

This is my mother in laws mower and I’ve changed oil, air filter, and blades on it through the years but that is about all. I just looked in the owner’s manual and under Maintenance, it says to “Grease the Pinion gears every 100 hours of use or every year” and to “Inspect-Grease the Rear wheel adjuster bushings every 150 hours of use or every two years”. I also noticed in cleaning up all the components on the rear wheel adjuster, it is a rubber dust seal with a channel on the inside of it that I can only assume is for some kind of lubricant. The Honda manual conveniently doesn’t say what to lube these with. This depth of maintenance, to tear the rear wheels apart every season seems a bit much and a poor design, just like I felt the Toro required.

That and the fact the rear wheel adjusting mechanism had seized up, makes me want to put something on the parts.

Well I told you what I use
The spray grease is cheapest
The chain lube is the best
Apply either one then leave the mower for 1/2 hour for the carrier to evaporate off before you use it
Most of my commercial customers use these mowers and they go through a full can of spray a season as most clean & lube the drives every week
Down here we use single lever to adjust height on all 4 wheels so height adjusters rusting is not so much of a problem but they get the same treatment .
About the only regular replacement is the clutch pin on the box because it rotates and the actuator that presses against it does not so it wears a lot when you are doing 10 to 30 lawns a day .

typically most common greases are lithium based. Boat bearing greases have additional additives that help prevent rust. There are also really sticky greases that help keep things coated. Some of those greases are used by people who repair electric tools. Really any of those greases will work as long as you service it periodically.

Interesting Bertsmobile1. I think I have some chain lube, I may try that. I also have some brand of dry lubricant, I can't remember which one.
This mower gets used, now don't laugh, by my 94 yo MIL normally twice a week for probably an hour or more, during the mowing season. She has a beautiful lawn but on a lot of clay and stays quite damp. I suspect the mower just hasn't been cleaned up much after mowing and the grassed packed here and there on the wheel area kept the moisture in and caused the rust and corrosion.

Motorcycle chain grease is too sticky
There are special ( read expensive ) push bike chain lubes.
I use them on my printers & photocopiers
Then there are the dry cable lubes used for gear change cables, again dear as poison but I use a lot of Tri-Flow because it works really well on control cables and I use it on all of my vintage & veteran motorcycles as well
After that there are the white spray greases that dry off
And what I forgot because I don't use it any more dry graphite grease although I do make a mix of graphite powder & lanolin grease to boil my motorcycle chains in

Clearly the pinion drive gear at the wheel is not well protected and is apt to get dirty. Honda mower manuals typically recommend greasing annually and I clean the area when doing annual maintenance. I use synthetic moly grease on the gear itself and spray lube on the axles.

OldToroGuy said:

The right rear drive wheel pinion, bushing, key, and spring were all rusted up and frozen. I pulled both rear wheels apart and cleaned up all of the parts now I'm wondering what is the best grease to use in the rear wheel parts. Wheel bearing grease, regular moly type grease that you grease the various grease fittings on large tractors,......?

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This is caused by an engineering issue that Honda is well aware of but refuses to publicly acknowledge. They have issued a service bulletin to their dealers that requires removing all of the parts you have listed and cleaning the rust off and applying grease. This should be done annually, at least it is here in Florida where it's sometimes necessary to mow grass that is damp during rainy season.
I have the HRX 271 model that cannot be pulled backwards when the shaft and collar gets rusty. Only by pulling it apart and cleaning/greasing it will it wok properly(for a while). I use LUCAS White Lithium Grease.
BTW...there are several YouTube videos about this issue. My next mower will definitely NOT be a Honda!

I put the mower all back together and like bertsmobile suggested, I just used CRC White Lithium Grease, judiciously, and let it set before I assembled the pieces. I also replaced the belt while I had it all apart. So I'm happy with the result and now know that I should plan on doing this to the rear wheels either this Fall or next Spring.

I started it up and let it run for several minutes because I wanted to change the oil while I had it (I should have done it first!). While it was running I was surprised at how fast the mower can actually go but when I stopped it and pulled it backwards there is some resistance in rear wheels, they don’t easily roll backwards, is that normal for Honda mowers?

I'm used to a Toro Super Recycler and it isn't as hard to pull back as this Honda HRR216K9.

Try adjusting the drive control. This may help. https://www.manualslib.com/manual/69131/Honda-Hrr216vxa.html?page=36

Thanks for the hint. I tried this adjustment yesterday but I didn't have much time to fuss with it and I was trying to fully understand the adjustment. I had to put it away and move on to something else I had to do.

Rivets, thanks for the link. I’ve read and re-read that adjustment and don’t feel a big difference after adjusting but it seems to be a little better. I also looked at some YouTube videos as well but I still think the adjustment is a little subjective.

I just don't understand why, after cleaning up both rear wheel drive mechanisms, (washers, axle, wheels, keys, pinion gear, etc.), adding a small amount of lubricant, why the mower still has a fair amount of resistance when you pull the mower backwards?! It doesn't make sense. Even after watching some YouTube videos, I don't see anything that someone else hasn't done, except one guy put a small bracket in place to keep the transmission from flexing, that I haven't done improve it. My wife pulled the mower backwards today and gave it a "no-go" on how it moved to the rear.

Sorry I can’t be of much more help. Honda has always been harder to pull back than a Toro. Just something you will have to learn to live with.

OldToroGuy said:

I just don't understand why, after cleaning up both rear wheel drive mechanisms, (washers, axle, wheels, keys, pinion gear, etc.), adding a small amount of lubricant, why the mower still has a fair amount of resistance when you pull the mower backwards?! It doesn't make sense. Even after watching some YouTube videos, I don't see anything that someone else hasn't done, except one guy put a small bracket in place to keep the transmission from flexing, that I haven't done improve it. My wife pulled the mower backwards today and gave it a "no-go" on how it moved to the rear.

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All ratchet type mechanism have some resistance
Generally the Hondas are a bit stiffer to pull back than other mowers but it is not all that much
What we get down here may not be the same as what you get in the USA
Usually when I find one that is really hard after cleaning & lubing the drive i is because the engagement is out of adjustment just enough to put a slight load on the transmission but not enough to drive it forward
I test this by seeing if it is harder to pull back engine on than it is engine off .

I meant to post this previously to close out this post of how hard it was to pull the mower backwards. I tried several adjustments and didn’t feel I got anywhere and then solicited some thoughts from a cousin with lots of mechanical experience. Still no luck.

I think I mentioned I had replaced the belt while I had the rear wheels and axle disassembled. The plastic shroud underneath I thought was a pain to take off and put back on so I wasn’t going to remove it again. That said, after not being happy with pulling the mower backwards I decided to pull it all apart again. (I’m getting pretty good at it now!) So, when I removed the shroud, I got to looking at the belt and found I had routed it wrong around the belt guide on the transmission. It made sense when I put the belt on but looking at when I turned the crank thought it didn’t look right. So, I put it on correctly and then re-adjusted the Smart Drive cable and it helped some. It is better pulling backwards than it was and will live with some resistance.

The other comment is to Rivets who didn’t recommend I use any grease on the drive components. I didn’t want to use any lubricant but there was such resistance I figured I’d try some. When I tore the mower back apart and re-routed the belt, I couldn’t believe how much sand and grit the pinions and axle had accumulated and I had only been running it on asphalt! So, I cleaned all of the axle components before putting it back together. Using grease was against everything in my dna but I was willing to try anything before I found the belt problem. Rivet was right, grease wasn't a good idea!

Check this thread out about not pulling backwards

OldToroGuy said:

The right rear drive wheel pinion, bushing, key, and spring were all rusted up and frozen. I pulled both rear wheels apart and cleaned up all of the parts now I'm wondering what is the best grease to use in the rear wheel parts. Wheel bearing grease, regular moly type grease that you grease the various grease fittings on large tractors,......?

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coming back to this thread as I was searching for answers this morning. The Toro manual states:

"Coat the axle, key, and spring with #2 molybendum
disulfide grease or anti-seize compound before
installing the pinion (Fig. 087)."

Fig 087

I and my commercial customers use dry lithium spray grease
Domestic customers once a season, commercials once a month

This straight out of the Honda Manual

civic said:

This straight out of the Honda Manual

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White lithium grease

civic said:

This straight out of the Honda Manual

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i never knew those pinion gears had a punch mark that needed to be facing a certain way.

I would use silicone spray. Grease = disaster on a mower. Silly cone spray is very light and will dry or drip off. Silicone is also anti moisture slash water.

Honda uses an inferior drive system.

slomo said:

I would use silicone spray. Grease = disaster on a mower. Silly cone spray is very light and will dry or drip off. Silicone is also anti moisture slash water.

Honda uses an inferior drive system.

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I use what is recommended by the manufacturer and I double seal so no dirt gets in. Double sealing is the trick. I have on occasion tilt the mower on its side remove the seal use a grease needle inject grease.