Unbelievable Parts Price

[MBDiagMan]

I have an HRS216PDA push mower that I use for trimming. I normally trim first, discharge, then pickup the clippings with my Grasshopper with grass collection system.

I do a significant size volunteer job at our local veterans memorial. A friend was helping me and took off the plastic deflector to prevent grass from being thrown against all the granite stones. When we were done, I threw the deflector in the back of the truck and didn't even think about it blowing out the back of the truck. When I discovered it missing, I thought "there goes twenty or thirty bucks."

I got online last night and found that the plastic chute goes for $3.40. That's a fair price for a little piece of stamped, soft plastic.

This parts price surprise was a pleasant one.

BTW, this little Honda push mower is a great little machine. It is very easy to push for being so powerful. If I had the energy to push it, I think I could cut down a corn crop with it. It will cut through anything. Great machine.

 

[robert@honda]

I have an HRS216PDA push mower

BTW, this little Honda push mower is a great little machine. It is very easy to push for being so powerful. If I had the energy to push it, I think I could cut down a corn crop with it. It will cut through anything. Great machine.

The HRS series is underrated; it offers no-frills and lightweight, but really high value with its GCV160 engine and 3-year warranty.

Both the push (PDA) and single-speed self-propelled (SDA) model were recently updated with a fixed throttle and the latest version of Autochoke.

And like all other Honda mowers sold in the USA, all HRS mowers, including the engine, are manufactured at the Honda plant in Swepsonville, NC (since 1983).

 

[SeniorCitizen]

That's a far cry from the price they wanted for a carburetor float for a Honda Prelude back in the 1980s. A plastic fishing bobber with an internal spring would be more difficult to make . The plastic factory one leaked and sank so why would I want another one for 70 bucks plus change.

 

[MBDiagMan]

:laughing:

I went through a similar parts issue with a Honda Civic, probably about an 80 model. This was in the days before Honda got their act together and made much better products.

My Dad sold his business and retired in about '81 or so. When he did, he started buying Honda's at the auto auction and fixing them up for resale. In the early eighties I worked in the engineering department of an oil well logging company in Fort Worth. In early '83, the crude prices went through the floor and they started laying off 250 folks every other Wednesday and my Wednesday finally came.

While I was out of work trying to make ends meet, my Dad told me to come and get a Civic that he bought and fix it up for resale. I did some real minor body work, put brakes on it and had to fix the heater which was flowing hot water through it regardless of the position of the controls. I traced the problem down to a chincy little water valve. The valve consisted of a sheet metal tube with a PLASTIC plunger inside that had MELTED from the hot coolant going through it. Now there's some great engineering for you, a hot water valve with materials having a melting point near the point of coolant temperature.

The Honda dealer wanted something close to $100 for a new one. This was $100 in 1983 money! I took it apart and took it and a piece of scrap brass to my brother in law who had a pretty complete machine shop in his antique clock and music box refurb shop. He made me a brass plunger with o-ring grooves and I got it all back together and it worked great with no money out of pocket. When it went on to the next owner, it had a heater valve MUCH better than what Honda had chosen to put in at the factory.

I made decent profit on the car and got a job before selling it. Everything worked out in spite of the RIDICULOUS Honda parts prices of the day.

My experience with Honda's asking price for that heater valve is probably why I was so shocked at the reasonable price for the plastic deflector.

 

[SeniorCitizen]

:laughing:



My experience with Honda's asking price for that heater valve is probably why I was so shocked at the reasonable price for the plastic deflector.

So now we can be fairly certain their parts are coming from asia.