HRR216K9VKAA new transmission, belt tight, still no power to wheels

I bought a HRR216K9VKAA about a year ago, and it's a great mower, or it was until about 2 weeks ago. I had only used this mower about 7 or 8 times on my yard, which is about 3/4 acre. I started mowing the other day, the grass was kind of tall, so I took my time and mowed slowly, overlapping the swaths about 20%. I got to a patch of clover, and all of a sudden the transmission stopped pulling. I noticed that the clover was a little wet, and that when I pushed the drive handle, I could hear what sounded like the the belt slipping on a pulley, but it wasn't squealing at all. I pushed the mower to my patio so I could work on it, started taking it apart, and realized I needed a manual. I went to Honda Power Equipment's Parts Lookup page, pulled up the HRR216K9VKAA exploded views, and printed out the rear wheel assembly, the transmission, and the mower deck exploded views and parts lists. I then went to YouTube and watched one of the many excellent videos by RepairCllinic.com, this one titled "Honda Lawn Mower Transmission Replacement #20001-VL0-P00". I also watched a couple of other videos about the pinions, and how they are supposed to ratchet when the mower is pulled backwards.

I watched the transmission video a couple of times and wrote out the procedure for completely removing and installing the transmission. I removed the wheels and pinions, the shroud, then the entire transmission assembly. I cleaned and lubricated everything, and reassembled according to the parts diagrams and videos. While the transmission was off the mower, I spun the drive pulley, and the axle turned. I held the axle firmly and again turned the pulley - the axle still turned, no slippage or anything like that. So I thought it might be the belt, that maybe it had stretched as the mower was getting broken in. After getting everything back together, I adjusted the belt according to the procedure in the owner's manual. I started the mower, pushed the drive handle, and nothing! No power to the wheels!

I then decided to try a new belt, even though it seemed that the original should have worked. I got the part in a couple of days, installed it, adjusted it, and again: NOTHING! Seriously frustrated at this point, I ordered a new transmission assembly. After a few more days, I got the part, installed and adjusted: again, NOTHING!!! How can this be? I'm pretty proficient with this type of thing, and I'm pretty much stumped. I took the blade assembly off when I changed the belt the first time, so I know there's a key for the crankshaft pulley, and that it's installed.

I even tightened the belt as much as I could, so you don't even have to push the drive handle. It you lift the rear wheels off the ground, they spin, but once you put them on the ground, there's not enough wheel torque to move the mower. The only thing I haven't looked at is the drive handle itself, but I can't imagine that's the problem, since it gets harder to push when the cable adjuster is tightened.

Anybody got suggestions? This is maddening. I'm a huge Honda fan, have had 6 Honda autos and a Honda motorcycle over the years, and have never had a problem. What is up with this mower?

I feel like an idiot, now. It's simple: The WHEELS are supposed to ratchet when turning in the FORWARD direction (top of the wheel turns toward the front of the mower). The PINIONS are supposed to ratchet in the REVERSE direction (top of the gear turns toward the rear of the mower).

I failed to make note of that when I first disassembled my mower. I realized this, so I went to YouTube for enlightenment. I watched a bunch of videos, and still I somehow got that simple fact wrong, It caused me a lot of head scratching. I'm good at repairing stuff - an engineer, too. That's what's really humbling.

I simply didn't stop and think about the function of the ratchet mechanism. I even posted a self righteous sounding comment in another thread questioning someone for posting that the wheels were supposed to ratchet in the forward direction (sorry, Robert). I own my mistakes, at least.

After thinking about it, I flipped the pinions around on my mower so that the rear wheels would ratchet in the forward direction, and sure enough, everything works, just like new. I'm glad I got my facts straight, and hope this post will help someone else.