Help Honda HRX217 going in circles! Wheels do not point straight ahead....

[Robshonda]

OK, my 3-4yr old HRX217 mower has always steered one way or another slightly making it hard to mow a long straight line.
I checked it today and pushing it on my level garage floor in 20ft it had pulled 2ft to the right.
I took my height adjusters off and took them to my dealer...he could not find a diagram that looked like what I had...
I was hoping to replace the bushing thats in there and be good...worst case the whole adjuster.
the height adjusters do not look bent and they are very heavy duty so I dont think I could bend them if I tried.
I stopped at two other Honda dealers to look at their current HRX217 machines. One dealer the front wheels were pointing straight ahead.
The other dealer they were noticably toed-out.

My nieghbor has the same mower but older and his wheels point fairly straight ahead.

Anyone got the fix for this problem?

Thanks!

 

[Ava.Feret]

I posted about this a while back and I got no replies or answers.
I changed the bushings and it did get a little better. I even looked online at ones for sale and all of them looked towed out.
My new one, which was just purchased looks fine.
I will keep a eye on it.
I contacted Honda and they treated me like the Lone Ranger.
Hopefully you can find the answer.
Also the Bushings are the split type. Maybe a solid one will work better.

 

[Robshonda]

UPDATE: I took the front wheel levelers off my neighbors mower and installed them on mine as a test. It rolled much straighter.
I went to my dealer and ordered new wheel levelers and new sleeves/collars? (mine are not split) and new wheel bearings for the front wheels.
Thats about all I can do to correct this. Parts will be here early next week and I will see how it does.
I will also check the both wheels have worn down the same amount, just to rule that out.
Will report what happens.

 

[Ava.Feret]

Take a good look at your sleeves. They may not look like they have a split, but mine have it. Also I looked at the parts for all the years and the steel bushing 91561-VH7-000 is a steel split sleeve/bushing. Let me know if you can correct this. I feel the Xenoy holes have worn.

 

[gotomow]

The front adjuster bracket is very stout and you most likely have not bent it. The adjusting arm could be causing the wheel not to seat straight so you could replace the arms. The adjuster bracket has two contact points with the deck. You could grind or file one of the contact points a little to adjust the alignment of the bracket and thus the wheel as well. Along with the bushing I would replace the bolt. If the bolt is worn that could allow too much movement in the wheel. If the housing where the adjuster bolts in is worn you could get a larger bushing and drill out the housing to accept the larger bushing or use a thin metal shim between the bushing and housing to allow the bushing to seat tight in the deck housing.

 

[Darryl G]

Seems like a lot of money and effort to correct a minor issue...

 

[Robshonda]

OK, it is fixed now!

The only thing I could do was to replace the adjuster plate and sleeves/collars and wheel bearings.
My bearings were in rough shape so I replaced them on the front wheels, my tires were still good. Total cost from my dealer was $32 for all the parts.
BTW, the bearings pry out from the back easily, ignore the Youtube video showing them punched out with a screwdriver.
This tightened everything up, it was all pretty sloppy before.
The wheels still point outward slightly, but as long as they point outward the same, it will go straight.
This is the first repair on this mower in 4 years and I mow A LOT.

Hope this helps others.

Rob

 

[gotomow]

Glad you were able to get the problem solved. My HRX217 gets a lot of use also, so I'm going to keep an eye on those wheels from now on.

 

[slow_runner]

Seems like a lot of money and effort to correct a minor issue...

My Victa had a similar issue to what has been described. The solution was to correct the toe out on the left wheel. I removed the wheel and with the aid of a lump of 4x2 and a big hammer sorted it out. I over corrected with the first blow but remedied that with another lesser strike from the other direction. New Split bushes took up further slop. Now it is as good as it gets. IMO the design for retaining the front axle with a spring clip is lacking and was probably expedient for the manufacturer.
I much prefer my new, older Honda with its' independent adjustment.

As to method of removing bearings, I would rather press or drive out bearings than prise them. That method puts unnecessary load on the bearing housing (plastic?)