Honda HF2417HME Rear bagger

Today this Honda HF2417HME ride on mower came into the workshop, the owners had just moved in to town from elsewhere so this is the only mower of this type in town, the chassis & cutter deck look just like the Castle garden twincut from Italy which there are plenty of those around, a feature on this Honda (which i have never seen before) is the system for activating the blades which appers to be a vaccume via a switch with hoses to the inlet manifold on the engine & another hose to a actuator pulling a cable to a idler pulley to tension the belt.
A nice smooth, effortless system. my question is - have there been any reliability issues with that vaccume operated system or how expensive would the actuator be for future replacement if that packs up.
Any info would be great as the coustomer says that we will be getting all of the serviceing work.

I see a lot of these in for service.

Cant say I get many problems but couple to think of.
I have found that if the cable is sticky and seized then the belt can feel slack and not pickup well as its not pulling the pulley far enough.

Also if i use a spurious belt and not the real deal then when the cutter is switched off the spurious belt tends to dig in the pulleys and the deck is in constant drive which then puts a parasitic load on engine and can cause hard starting.

As for cable adjustment then try here Honda | Owner's Manual Download | Power Equipment
Use your model number and usually it shows you what the measurment is.

To check the deck belt cable measurment start the engine and engage the cutter and then switch engine off but dont move cutter switch.

Yes it is made by Castel Garden for Honda and only Honda use this system.

Thanks Pugaltitude,:thumbsup: