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My Honda HR214SMA (SXA) transmission slips out of high gear and does not engage in low gear. The mower was taken to a lawn equipment repair shop to be repaired. After they evaluated the machine, I was told it was obsolete due to the fact that parts (the whole transmission?) were not available. I tied the gear shift lever in the fast position and continued to use it. This spring, I noticed it was harder to make the turns when the drive clutch was not engaged. Then the roto-stop cable broke. Since it was now totally shut down, I decided to investigate the problems. After all, I now had nothing to lose.

While searching the internet, I found that Honda issued a service bulletin in August 1988 for the very problem I am experiencing on the transmission. There was a repair kit that had all of the parts to correct the problem; however, that 途epair kit was no longer available but the individual parts that were in the kit were available. I also found the Shop Repair Manual and downloaded it. After reviewing the shop manual, I torn down the drive portion and evaluated each part for serviceability and replacement. The gears in the transmission are in excellent condition. The oil in the gear case was still fluid and full (since 1983). When I pulled the gear case apart, the shift slider, low gear and thrust washer stayed with the left half while all of the other components remained in the right half.

Here is where I made my first mistake. I drained the old oil from the transmission but there was some residual oil in the bottom. My camera was right there beside me and I did not take the time to wash up and snap a couple of pictures of how the gears were aligned inside the gear case. I was attempting to remove the high speed gear to examine the teeth and it would not come out. I was working with the shift spring and shifter when the high gear was spit out at me with considerable force and surprise on my part. Now, I cannot get the high gear to stay in place like it was originally. Part of my confusion is with the shop manual with the shifter disassembly/reassembly section. It says to 途otate the shifter 90 degrees to remove or install. I am thinking they are talking about removing the countershaft. It clearly shows the shifter being turned to align with the slot in the countershaft; but, the shifter is what drives the high and low gears and is 90 degrees to the countershaft.

Does anyone have any experience with the transmission on this old Honda? My local Honda Dealer stopped selling and servicing lawn equipment long ago; but, I did talk to one of the guys there that did work on them. He did not recall tearing down a transmission and could not help. Hope to have better luck here.

jim845 said:

Part of my confusion is with the shop manual with the shifter disassembly/reassembly section. It says to 途otate the shifter 90 degrees to remove or install. I am thinking they are talking about removing the countershaft. It clearly shows the shifter being turned to align with the slot in the countershaft; but, the shifter is what drives the high and low gears and is 90 degrees to the countershaft.

Click to expand...

All the tech/service guys here at Honda that have experience with this old trans. have retired, except one. I will ask the remaining guy (when he returns from vacation) if he can shed any light on this; stand by.

Here are some shots of my HRA216-SXA transmission. Hope they help. If you want to see more, check my revival thread in my signature. When I pulled mine apart, all the drive gears stayed on one side. The shifter spring was in place on the gear shaft. I pressed down on the thrust washer on the high gear and it shot out!

I had no oil in my case when I pulled it apart. Just the greasy residue you see









The pull out the 1st and 2nd gears with their shaft. At this point you can swing up the engagement piece and pull out the bottom gear






Alright! Its all out. All cleaned up. Here are some shots of the gears and what not

Thanks for the great pics freeloader. Your trany and mine are very similar in the gear arrangement with some differences. You are showing a spring that I don't have, but the placement of the gears looks the same. I had the transmission on my bench and was playing around with it after looking at you pics and it seems to work fine on the bench. I did some research on the internet and found an old service bulletin on my trany. In the bulletin was instructions on making the shifter adjustments. I installed the trany and attempted the adjustments. What I found is the gear selector lever will not stay in the fast gear. The gear is engaged but will disengage when you release the shift level. The slow gear is then engaged. I still don't know if the gear box is right or if there is another problem with the linkage and level.

Again, thanks for your input
Jim845

I have resolved my problem with the transmission not staying in 2nd gear. To isolate the problem, I blocked up the rear wheels and started the engine. I then checked to see if the drive shaft was turning and if the transmission was making any kind of abnormal noise. When I was satisfied everything was okay and the shift lever was in 1st gear, I engaged the drive clutch and the wheels began to turn in the slow mode. All was smooth and normal. Releasing the drive clutch, I shifted the gear shift lever into 2nd gear. At this point, I had to hold the shift lever in placed while I engaged the drive clutch. Again, the wheels began to turn and 2nd gear was engaged as the wheels were turning faster. After repeating these steps several times, I concluded the transmission was functioning as it should and that I should focus my attention on the shift lever cable adjustment.

I had originally set up my shift lever free play as specified in the manual on the low side to approximately 1mm. I decided to loosen up this adjustment to see what kind of results I would get. When I did this, the shift lever snapped into place and held its position in both 1st and 2nd gear. I took the mower on a test run and it worked like it was brand new.

I hope this bit of information will help others who have 214痴 to get their machines running again.
jim845