HRX-217 Mulching Displeasure

Hello guys. First post here but have read many people just as situated as I now am with how much grass this new HRX leaves behind on freshly cut lawn. Sounds like Honda held off releasing this model from 2002-2005 knowing full well they had this issue and yet they released it to the world of unsuspecting customers anyways. Fast forward to me going to buy one a few months ago and it’s disgusting how much grass “it holds then dumps” out onto the lawn. You can see how there’s a gap where door doesn’t fully close and seal.

Anyways I called dealer today and informed him of my dismay with this model being I trusted Honda to give me a great product especially for the price of them. Surprisingly enough he said he would talk to management to get me a model that would work. I absolutely love this mower Except this mulching issue. Salesman said I’d have to go “down” to next lower series which I haven’t researched yet but hoped to get some opinions from you fine and experienced lawnmower gurus.

Appreciate all experienced replies in advance. Thank you. Ernie

I have 2 of them and I love them. I feel they are the best mulching machines made.
I suspect you are mulching wet grass or your grass is way too high.
The undercarriage can also be clogged up from wet grass.
Otherwise that is one of the best mulching mowers on the market.

Ava.Feret said:

I have 2 of them and I love them. I feel they are the best mulching machines made.
I suspect you are mulching wet grass or your grass is way too high.
The undercarriage can also be clogged up from wet grass.
Otherwise that is one of the best mulching mowers on the market.

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I suppose yes that would be the first thing I’d think too is the lawns either wet and or too long but no I like keeping my lawn looking good and I cut it on average before it gets 2” long. Hey no problem if I’ve come to the wrong forum looking for advice or a possible solution. There’s plenty of info on same topic all over the Internet about this same issue but no one seemed to have a solution. Guess I was simply hoping someone might have been able to help.

Ava.Feret said:

I have 2 of them and I love them. I feel they are the best mulching machines made.
I suspect you are mulching wet grass or your grass is way too high.
The undercarriage can also be clogged up from wet grass.
Otherwise that is one of the best mulching mowers on the market.

Click to expand...

I suppose yes that would be the first thing I’d think too is the lawns either wet and or too long but no I like keeping my lawn looking good and I cut it on average before it gets 2” long.

Hey no problem if I’ve come to the wrong forum looking for advice on a well known issue plaguing these models and have been since 2002. You must have gotten lucky and bought two that work as they should. As I mentioned There’s plenty of info on same topic all over the Internet but no one seemed to have a viable solution. Guess I was simply hoping someone might have been able to help.

Yes!
This is not a good place to bash Honda Lawnmowers.

The Clip Director or "shutter" should close fully on your HRX-217. If it does not then take it to the dealer and have them make it right for you. Your machine is either out of adjustment or was fit with parts slightly out of spec. Mine fully closes and does an amazing job of mulching. It also pulverizes leaves so nicely that I'm getting rid of my leaf vacuum because the Honda does a better job mulching and moves faster than the vacuum. Bottom line, the door was designed to close fully and your's should do the same.

I've experience the same. I bought a HRX217K5VKA early this summer. I'm ready to send this thing to Craig's list. The amount of grass this thing leaves behind is a joke. I had a Toro for about 7 years and it did a much better job. Neighbor has a lesser Honda model and we basically cut the same day/length and his is fine, but mine looks bad.

I emailed Honda and they sent me some stock info.
"Thank you for your email. You can try to raise the mower deck and this will help with the quantity of grass clipping let from mulching. There will be some grass clippings left behind when mulching, this is normal. powerequipment.honda.com/support/videos/lawn-mowers/cut-quality-general this is a link to Honda's cut quality video, this could also assist you with your mowing condition."

I'm in Ohio with under half an acre, and cut twice a week, but sometimes 3x in the spring.

Did I get a lemon? Or is this a common problem with this model? All the reviews I read pointed to this as the push mower to get, so I dropped $600. Is there anything I can do with the blades?

Ava.Feret said:

Yes!
This is not a good place to bash Honda Lawnmowers.

Click to expand...

Bashing, who’s bashing Ava ?? Are you by chance a woman, if so then let’s talk small engines sometime because you’ll be the first one ever I could discuss mechanical issues with haha. I’ve been in this industry working for authorized dealers for over 40yrs so just maybe strangers that come to a particular site looking for input might not all be desk jockies Ava!!

Most of my experience with Honda engines have been the GX series and in my opinion they’ve reigned superior for decades now.

I came here simply asking if others had experienced the same possible issue as I hoping maybe for a fix nothing more and glad 606 is also experiencing same thing. After reading other forums with same complaints about the amount of grass these mowers are known to leave behind I hoped maybe someone had an easy adjustment that I hadn’t taken the time to inspect. But ya it’s embarrassing enough to let my neighbours hear this engine knocking st idle while it warms up only then to see me walking around the yard picking up grass clippings this mowers spewed out.

Well upon closer inspection there’s not much wonder it leaks the way it does and if I knew how to post photos here I would. It’s the way they mould the composite door vs the composite mower housing it contacts... the door makes perfect contact in 2 small areas while in others it leaves close to 3/16” gap and not much wonder it leaks. Has nothing to do with any adjustment that can be done it’s simply inferior moulding. I’m going to try filing off the high spots on 2 of the outside radius on upper portion of closure. Sure can’t make it any worse that it is.

The door can be adjusted, so on a new mower I would return it to the dealer so it can be properly fixed. Let the dealership do their job. Mine and every HRX I've looked at on the showroom closes completely, and by that I mean there's no gap at all.