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I picked up an older HR215HX Masters the other day and have been getting it ready for spring with some good info from this site. It has the mulching kit, even the mulching plug. The cutting blade was shot but the upper blade is salvageable. My question is: What is a good blade choice for mulching? Is the OEM dual mulch blade the best setup or should I go with a single high lift or Gator Blade? Do these movers even mulch well or am I better off using the side discharge? Do not want to bag it.

https://planopower.com/store/honda/honda_hr215_bbc_assembly.php

my son uses HR215SXA Masters series that i purchased new in 1990, mulches & bags well

Good thing I checked the diagram. I am missing a blade holder and I had the spacer in the wrong spot.

I have a Master's series with the dual blade setup. Mulches and bags very well with it. Seems like a bit much for the engine when engaging the blade though - rpms drop way down. I rarely use it though as I can use larger mowers most of the time.

I did notice it struggled a little to get the blades up to speed. Where does the spacer go? Does it go in between the upper and lower blade? Since it was missing the blade holder all together I'm doubting the way it was put together when I got it. The flat "spacer" was between the bolts and lower blade when I got it. The upper and lower blades were sandwiched together with nothing between them.

Unfortunately the mower is in the mildly wildly inaccessible portion of my shed right mow and won't see daylight for about 6 weeks so I can't check it. I use the machine so seldom that I've only sharpened the blade once since I bought it a dozen years ago, so in don't remember anything other than that the upper and lower blades are stacked.

There is a YouTube video showing a guy disassembling the BBC on a Honda HR215 Masters mower (for slow to engage blades). He replaced the clutch (the brake pad portion was worn away) and sanded the glaze off the flywheel part of the BBC system. It did seem to engage better after putting it back together.

Mine had oil leakage from the engine on the BBC system that caused slippage, but I replaced the oil seal to fix that.

https://youtu.be/Tjx79y_JsJI
Regards

Jeff

I think in at least my case that it's just a lot for the engine to get spinning with the double blade setup. Engages blades fine just pulls engine down hard. Will stall it if I don't warm it up enough or if I have it in uncut grass. Always been that way from day 1. What's it like 5hp?

Edit: Here you go. Dug out my original paperwork. Mine is an HR215K1HMA. Here's the installation instructions and diagram for the mulching blade. Note that the blade holder is not used for the double blade setup. The spacer goes in its place. And there is nothing between the 2 blades. Sounds like it was installed properly on your machine except the spacer was in the wrong place?

Hmmm, I know valve adjustment on 4 cycle model airplane glow engine makes a HUGE difference in power.

It kind of makes sense, as the valve train wears, the valves are not opening as much as they should.

Regards

Jeff

Darryl G said:

I think in at least my case that it's just a lot for the engine to get spinning with the double blade setup. Engages blades fine just pulls engine down hard. Will stall it if I don't warm it up enough or if I have it in uncut grass. Always been that way from day 1. What's it like 5hp?

Edit: Here you go. Dug out my original paperwork. Mine is an HR215K1HMA. Here's the installation instructions and diagram for the mulching blade. Note that the blade holder is not used for the double blade setup. The spacer goes in its place. And there is nothing between the 2 blades. Sounds like it was installed properly on your machine except the spacer was in the wrong place?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the diagram! Saved me $40 ordering a replacment that I didnt need

Welcome. I was amazed to see that those spring washers under the bolts are $5 each at Jack's Small Engines. What?!?!

Used the 215 for the first time today. Not impressed....It didn't have the power to run thru one pass without dying. I kept having to release the blade clutch to keep it from dying when the grass got the slightest bit thick. Its a yard that is not well maintained, mostly weeds but they were not that thick. After about 3 passes I went for my cheapo Troy Built XP that blew right threw it. Maybe the two blade setup is too much for that motor? Going to try a single blade and maybe a side discharge shute to keep it from loading up. If that doesnt work I have no use for it.

Baughman85 said:

Thanks for the diagram! Saved me $40 ordering a replacment that I didnt need

Click to expand...

I'm sure you know those "sping-washers" are also called Belleville & compression washers, just FYI

Baughman85 said:

Used the 215 for the first time today. Not impressed....It didn't have the power to run thru one pass without dying. I kept having to release the blade clutch to keep it from dying when the grass got the slightest bit thick. Its a yard that is not well maintained, mostly weeds but they were not that thick. After about 3 passes I went for my cheapo Troy Built XP that blew right threw it. Maybe the two blade setup is too much for that motor? Going to try a single blade and maybe a side discharge shute to keep it from loading up. If that doesnt work I have no use for it.

Click to expand...

Power is definitely on the marginal end of things with the double blades and mulching, and perhaps the engine is a bit "tired" bringing it to the critical point of not being able to do the job.

I agree with your plan to just go with a single blade and see how that goes. You'll need to get the blade holder bracket and shorter blade bolts, as the mulch kit deletes the blade holder and uses longer bolts.

Darryl G said:

Welcome. I was amazed to see that those spring washers under the bolts are $5 each at Jack's Small Engines. What?!?!

Click to expand...

Available at (Fastenal) MUCH cheaper !

https://www.fastenal.com/products/b...|~ ~|categoryl3:"600090 Belleville Washers"|~

Baughman85 said:

Used the 215 for the first time today. Not impressed....It didn't have the power to run thru one pass without dying. I kept having to release the blade clutch to keep it from dying when the grass got the slightest bit thick. Its a yard that is not well maintained, mostly weeds but they were not that thick. After about 3 passes I went for my cheapo Troy Built XP that blew right threw it. Maybe the two blade setup is too much for that motor? Going to try a single blade and maybe a side discharge shute to keep it from loading up. If that doesnt work I have no use for it.

Click to expand...

There is a limit to what a mulching mower can do.
The mulchers down here generally have a bigger motor because all of that extra wind movement & grass chopping requires a lot more power.
The mulching version comes with the 190 the strait thrower/bagger uses the 160.

Then there is what you are cutting.
You can not mulch 6" tall grass down to 2", some thing that my office working customers can not understand.
Ideally mulching cuts should be no more that 1/4 of the height of the grass.

Finally, mulching takes time so you have to mow slower, another thing the office workers and particularly the managers can not understand.

Over there the lawers have your balls in a vice because blade brakes/clutches are manditory and all that extra trash gobbles up a lot of power.

Took the mulching blade off and it runs much better and cuts great. I mow my yard before it gets too tall but the other two other people I mow for let theirs get a little tall before they have me cut it. I guess I will keep the Troy Built around for those yards.

My son has an HR215K1 SX masters series, and I have an HR215 SX, and last year I installed the mulching blade setup onto both of them. Only the Masters series had the mulching plug installed and I found that the HR215 w/o the mulching plug didn't work as well if I tried to mulch w/o the plug, so I obtained a mulching plug for that one too. If you have the mulching blade setup installed but don't want to mulch, there's no problem because you just attach the grass bag. The mulching blade setup cuts the grass into smaller pieces which fit into the bag more efficiently, so you can cut more grass before emptying the bag.

With 2 different HR215 mowers, I have not noticed a drop-off of power with the mulching blades installed whether mulching or bagging. There might actually be a very small power loss, but I haven't noticed any loss to worry about. If you're experiencing noticeable power loss, I suggest you check every aspect of the mower which could lower power output if not up to specs. For example, I picked up a used HS520 SB a few years ago, and it seemed to run fine, but I noticed that it didn't have the correct spark plug installed, so I replaced the spark plug with the correct one, and the rpm jumped up a few hundred rpms.

Darryl G said:

I think in at least my case that it's just a lot for the engine to get spinning with the double blade setup. Engages blades fine just pulls engine down hard. Will stall it if I don't warm it up enough or if I have it in uncut grass. Always been that way from day 1. What's it like 5hp?

Edit: Here you go. Dug out my original paperwork. Mine is an HR215K1HMA. Here's the installation instructions and diagram for the mulching blade. Note that the blade holder is not used for the double blade setup. The spacer goes in its place. And there is nothing between the 2 blades. Sounds like it was installed properly on your machine except the spacer was in the wrong place?

Click to expand...

Hi Darryl this is an old post thread……but I just restored a HR215 HMA MASTERS Series last year. Have the double mulching blades with the spacer…..currently the spacer in between the blades but you state that the spacer should be on top blades against roto stop…..any possible you can send a copy of your original install instructions as noted in your post
Thanks

Saw the request for mulching blade installation instructions.
I've had mulching blades on 3-Honda HR series mowers- HR214, HR215, & HR215 masters, and they all ran (and still run) great, with never any sign of power loss, unless the grass was very long, very wet, or if you tried running the mower in the 3rd power drive gear which exacerbated the long or wet grass slow down, and, by-the-way, the manual says not to use 3rd gear for cutting grass.

Anyway, while looking for the mulching kit instructions, I discovered that I have a brand new mulching blade kit stored in my garage along with a bunch of miscellaneous HR series mower parts, and even a couple of spare mulching plugs. A few yrs back a hobby of mine was buying other peoples throw away Honda HR series mowers (for almost give-away prices, and they sometimes also included the mulching plug). So, along with my Honda mower and 2- Honda mowers belonging to my sons, I've got spare parts for most repairs. One pic is worth a thousand words.

golfergordy said:

Saw the request for mulching blade installation instructions.
I've had mulching blades on 3-Honda HR series mowers- HR214, HR215, & HR215 masters, and they all ran (and still run) great, with never any sign of power loss, unless the grass was very long, very wet, or if you tried running the mower in the 3rd power drive gear which exacerbated the long or wet grass slow down, and, by-the-way, the manual says not to use 3rd gear for cutting grass.

Anyway, while looking for the mulching kit instructions, I discovered that I have a brand new mulching blade kit stored in my garage along with a bunch of miscellaneous HR series mower parts, and even a couple of spare mulching plugs. A few yrs back a hobby of mine was buying other peoples throw away Honda HR series mowers (for almost give-away prices, and they sometimes also included the mulching plug). So, along with my Honda mower and 2- Honda mowers belonging to my sons, I've got spare parts for most repairs. One pic is worth a thousand words.View attachment 71451

Click to expand...

That’s super! Thanks for the info exactly what I needed
Here is pic of my reburb HR 215 HRM. My son found it in his work junk area. Great lawnmower!!!!
One more thing,… do you find that there is a fair amount of effort to pull this mower backwards?? I have gone thru complete r/r on the rear wheels etc Appreciate your thoughts
It amazing that people throw these mowers away!!! Thanks again

At the rear of the mower there is (or should be) a piece of metal hanging down (called the safety shield) that spans from one rear wheel to the other, and it can freely swing upward in the back direction, and its purpose is to safely block (and protect) the mower operator from any things (stones, twigs, legos, etc.) that may become missiles shot off of the high rpm spinning mower blade. This shield hangs down pretty low, usually rubbing against the grass, and freely swings in a backward/upward direction, and doesn't cause very much of a drag force when pushing the mower (or running in power drive mode). However, when pulling backward on the mower (which I occasionally do), this shield does not freely swing as far in the opposite direction and therefore causes a noticeable drag force when pulling the mower backward.

Nice looking refurb job. Looks like you repainted it too, and the grass bag looks brand new. A few yrs back I collected other peoples' throw away HR214 mowers until I found one with a perfect engine (not even any smoke upon startup). I took the best parts from 4-different mowers and assembled them into one really nice HR214 which I'm still using (with the mulching blade)..

Howdy! Your HR214 looks amazing…….i had the exact same mower….which had the smoking issue on startup……when I got my HR215 ….initially plan was to use the motor and a parts mower for my 214...however HR215 turned out to be repairable and it had the hydrostatic trans, and sold my HR214(sad to see it go,)
As for your Comment on pullback issues with the stone shield, I noticed that it seems to contribute to effort to pull mower backwards….thought of removing but not wise for safety reason. I notice on new models Honda went with a rubber type of guard. The HR215 weights over 100lbs certainly that contributes to pullback force…

Usually, you don't pull a mower backwards too often, so the total extra effort for the whole cutting job is minimal. One time I found a good deal on a HRC215 (commercial). The commercial mower is very, very heavy. The guy who sold it to me said his son (who mows his lawn) said the mower was too heavy and he liked another lighter mower better. The HRC215 looked like it was hardly used, so I fixed up and adjusted whatever needed it (including some painting on the deck), and gave it to one of my sons 7-8 yrs ago (who has a giant yard and uses a JD rider mower) to use as a trim mower to replace the light weight cordless electric mower he was using. Also, the HRC215 would be the backup mower for the rider in case anything went wrong with the rider. My son said it was too heavy and didn't want it. I wound up selling it (for a reasonable profit) - it ran and looked close to brand new.

Good luck with your mulching.