Honda HR214 - Blade is not spinning very fast....is the clutch failing?

Hello, I have an HR214 mower. I do not know how old it is, but it is probably at least 25 years old. It has an electric start but there is not battery. Anyways, I was cutting the grass today and emptied out the bag, went to re-engage the blade and noticed that the mower did not sound right....the roar from the blade spinning was not the same.

The blade still spins, but it is nowhere near where it was about an hour ago. I looked to make sure there wasn't anything obvious underneath, but could smell a hint of something burnt. I am thinking there is some sort of friction material that has failed or maybe the entire clutch unit. The blade still turns fast enough to blow the empty bag up (but doesn't seem to create much vacuum), so I wouldn't think the clutch has failed entirely. Any ideas? Thanks


EDIT------
I tried to adjust the clutch cable and after playing with it, it broke. I then secured the broken frayed end of the cable to a piece of metal using vicegrips and then manually pulled the cable and the blade engaged and spun up to its normal speed. I guess my questions at this point---is the HR214 the actual model of the mower itself, or is that the engine model? I see a number of cables online that all say they fit the HR214, but they vary in length. Some are 58"and others are up to 65". Any idea which one? I guess I could try to take the existing one out and measure it, but thought I would ask.

The Driven disk may worn out .The 3rd in bottom row or # 18 on dwawing .If you smell burn normally that disk slipping

tranchinh said:

The Driven disk may worn out .The 3rd in bottom row or # 18 on dwawing .If you smell burn normally that disk slipping

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I edited my post. It appears to be the cable. It broke when I tried to adjust it. Is it possible that a partially engaged clutch (due to the slack in the cable) could have caused some intermittent slippage on that driven disc? I did put a little more oil into the mower earlier, and don't recall if I was smelling burning oil (from my spill) or a friction burn. I guess I could replace both since the mower is so old. But it seemed to work fine when I manually pulled the cable.

After read your edit I agree that will cause blade not fully engage also .Check your model Hr214 SMA or SXA #1 and SXA#2 for correct cable
http://peparts.honda.com/powerequipment#/browse/lm/hr/hr214

I must be looking in the wrong spot. What item do the clutch components fall under? I see parts called "guide cable" but nothing that says clutch cable. This model is called HR214 and has a sticker that just says "SM". It does not appear to have a typical serial number tag like some of the others, but it has a silver tag that says 1027501, so it appears to be an early model.

I found this on another website, they also seem to have the Honda picture diagrams with the "roto stop cable" listed under "handlebar". The Honda website doesn't have handlebar parts unless I am missing something. 54530-VB3-802 appears to be the part number.

Does anyone know how to remove the cable? There seems to be a washer of some sort on the left side of the metal bracket. This moves somewhat freely, but I can't figure out how to remove the rest of it. I have detached the ball-end of the cable from the clutch and the metal piece near the washer seems to be slotted to where you pull everything down....but that does not seem to work.

I am hesitant to remove those two 10mm bolts as it the metal piece appears to be a bump-stop of some sorts....removing those bolts might let the clutch move forward and it would be very difficult to return it to place with the amount of spring tension.



EDIT---------
Ok, I got the cable removed. It does eventually drop down through that slot. The picture I uploaded was from a youtube video and is not exactly the same model. The older HR214 SM seems to have another metal barrel on the other side of the washer. I used some sturdy needle nose pliers and just manhandled the thing until it broke apart....it then dropped down along the slot.

The overall length of the cable is about 65". I will order another of this length. I saw some that were 58" but that might have just been the conduit length. The cable extends a ways beyond the conduit.

"Gently" pry the metal washer off. You might try 2 screwdrivers (one one each side) That will allow the cable to exit at the slot.

bigblockelectra said:

Does anyone know how to remove the cable? There seems to be a washer of some sort on the left side of the metal bracket. This moves somewhat freely, but I can't figure out how to remove the rest of it. I have detached the ball-end of the cable from the clutch and the metal piece near the washer seems to be slotted to where you pull everything down....but that does not seem to work.

I am hesitant to remove those two 10mm bolts as it the metal piece appears to be a bump-stop of some sorts....removing those bolts might let the clutch move forward and it would be very difficult to return it to place with the amount of spring tension.

Click to expand...

rePhil said:

"Gently" pry the metal washer off. You might try 2 screwdrivers (one one each side) That will allow the cable to exit at the slot.

Click to expand...

+1. I have removed these on several occasions, just 'walk' it off with two screwdrivers.

Yes the washer is hard to remove but don't worry new cable come with new washer,these washer easy to push it in but hard to get out