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depends if u paid £50 for a service or a £100
4 services cheaper - u saved £80 min - ,so paid for your new part..
but time / headache/ hassel.
it seems all these rollers esp honda/kaz/lawnflite are crap rollers. never had an issue with my 2 hayters. old or new..?
Helen, that's the Honda roller weak-spot. Well done if you can fix it yourself, I've run the pro machines for many years and a roller rebuild is basically an annual cost in commercial use, and usually the second year it's retire the machine. If you replace them when they're nearly worn out, then you've always got a back-up mower, and when they completely break the parts sell for a decent amount.
I'm not sure a service would be anything other than change the oil and the air filter, and fit a new blade? When mine ever went in for repairs they wouldn't check the roller, as they basically work until they show, in use, obvious signs of failing that you would notice before they could.
Whilst you seem far more technically-minded than me, I once tried to rebuild the rollers and ended up with a machine in bits :-( , a service is simple.
I do an oil change, give the air filter a blow-through, sharpen the blade and, where fitted, pressure-clean the mesh bag, at least fortnightly in the busy season. In the winter, the machine always gets a proper service from the dealer, including a new blade and all the cables.
Isn't the HRX a domestic machine? If you go for the licensed mowers such as the Kubota, you get a pro-spec mower for far less than the Hondas, with the same mechanicals.
Well i'm very suprised that checking that bearings were ok would not be part of an annual service. It took me 5 mins to discover the fault and remove roller. I prefered to have all my tools done at the same time and not have the hassle myself but think i may do it myself now i know so little is included. Being a keen cyclist i would never let any part of my bike get to a state like this so will include my mowers in my bike maintenance routine from now on. I don't know if it's a domestic mower but it was £700 and was sold to me on reccomendation by a garden machinery shop for use in my business.
Any decent "mechanic" should have noticed all that play in the roller bearing during a service........ surely a general check-over is part of any service? I reckon most of these "services" are a bit of a moneymaking con really where they do very little for a lot of money. Years ago, a service would involve removing the cylinder and regrinding it + regrinding/replacing the bottom blade...... what exactly do they do these days for all that money?!! I always take the roller off each year and regrease the bearings......... I've kept the same bearings for years by doing that.
Welcome to the world of lawnmower dealers.
Learn the spanners and you will save yourself thousands.
Well done taking on the repair and I hope it's the first of many.
I wish there was a "how to" guide for stripping and greasing the Honda rollers: why can't someone with the skills do a youtube video?
I tried once, and, seriously, ended up taking a machine (in bits) to the dealer to put back together. I just used to budget £200 per year for a rebuild, hardly the end of the world on a machine used, perhaps, 20 hours a week.
Helen, there isn't a Honda available for £700 that's a professional machine: the pro-rollers are about £1400 retail, and the licensed machines about £1200. Not to say yours isn't perfect for your business, and to be three seasons in with any mower means it's easily paid for itself.
I've an old Masport.... 12 years old, that I'm still using. A simple belt drive with a tensioner to the rear roller. Why didn't Honda keep to a simple system which would have been far easier to produce as well?
As Paul has said, a service tends to include oil and filters, and probably greasing bearings, but replacement parts is a repair in many cases. It's usually worth asking whether filters are changed or cleaned too. We provide servicing and are always happy to let the customer know what we cover - just ask! :)
It's great that you can do it yourself to keep costs down! Shame that the roller is such a weak point on the model though, very frustrating.
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