Best Grease for Honda Rear Wheel Drive Components?

[OldToroGuy]

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,......?

 

[Rivets]

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.

 

[bertsmobile1]

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

 

[OldToroGuy]

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.

 

[bertsmobile1]

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 .

 

[sgkent]

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.

 

[OldToroGuy]

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.

 

[bertsmobile1]

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

 

[TonyPrin]

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.

 

[RetireeRon]

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,......?

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!