Honda HRR Smart Drive System

[bojo3919]

Greetings,

At the start of this mowing season I purchased a new Honda HHR2169VKA 21" self propelled mower with "Smart Drive" speed control. I found I do not like the Smart Drive thumb operated control as well as the finger controls on previous mowers. I have a hard time holding a constant speed particularly when mowing over bumpy or irregular turf. If I rotate the control to the max stop position the speed is way too fast. The control has several orientation options for user comfort but they have no effect on ground speed. I would like to be able to rotate the control against a stop that is at a slower than the max speed position. I have thought about placing a screw-type hose clamp around the handle bar near the thumb paddle and position it such that the clamp body acts as a stop. Just wondering if anyone else has other suggestions on how to better control the ground speed of this mower.

Thanks for any suggestion you might have!

Bob

 

[robert@honda]

I would like to be able to rotate the control against a stop that is at a slower than the max speed position.

Bob, did you buy your HRR from Home Depot or an independent dealer?

Either way, you might be able to return it and trade-up to the HRX217HYA model, which has the hydrostatic drive transmission (Cruise Control) and it offers a more precise ground speed design.

There is an orange lever near the throttle that sets the maximum ground speed from 0-4 mph, and the large black spring-loaded drive clutch lever on the handlebar that controls the speed from 0-maximum set point. So you can set the orange lever to midway (about 2 mph) then when you move the black lever, it will allow speed control from 0-2 mph. If you need a brief bump up or down, just move the orange lever a bit. I typically set the orange lever to my normal flat open walking speed, then just let off on the black lever a bit in the turns. It provides a much more precise level of ground speed control, in my humble opinion. Honda has use this control design on their hydrostatic transmissions for over 25 years, so it has a solid proven history and is very reliable. You may wish to go test drive one and see for yourself. Depending on how long you've had your HRR, Home Depot or the dealer make take it back in for 100% credit on trade for a new HRX.

The HRX also offers a slew of other upgrades, including mower powerful engine, variable mulching/bagging, lifetime warranty on the NeXite composite mower deck, larger wheels with full ball bearings, 5 year warranty, and my favorite, the Roto-Stop blade clutch (yellow button): let go of the lever, and the blades stop, but the engine keeps running. Here's a link to read about it:

Honda HRX217HYA

 

[bojo3919]

Bob, did you buy your HRR from Home Depot or an independent dealer?

Either way, you might be able to return it and trade-up to the HRX217HYA model, which has the hydrostatic drive transmission (Cruise Control) and it offers a more precise ground speed design.

There is an orange lever near the throttle that sets the maximum ground speed from 0-4 mph, and the large black spring-loaded drive clutch lever on the handlebar that controls the speed from 0-maximum set point. So you can set the orange lever to midway (about 2 mph) then when you move the black lever, it will allow speed control from 0-2 mph. If you need a brief bump up or down, just move the orange lever a bit. I typically set the orange lever to my normal flat open walking speed, then just let off on the black lever a bit in the turns. It provides a much more precise level of ground speed control, in my humble opinion. Honda has use this control design on their hydrostatic transmissions for over 25 years, so it has a solid proven history and is very reliable. You may wish to go test drive one and see for yourself. Depending on how long you've had your HRR, Home Depot or the dealer make take it back in for 100% credit on trade for a new HRX.

The HRX also offers a slew of other upgrades, including mower powerful engine, variable mulching/bagging, lifetime warranty on the NeXite composite mower deck, larger wheels with full ball bearings, 5 year warranty, and my favorite, the Roto-Stop blade clutch (yellow button): let go of the lever, and the blades stop, but the engine keeps running. Here's a link to read about it:

Honda HRX217HYA

Robert,

Thanks for the suggestion and links. I did buy it at Home Depot but have accumulated about 20+ hours of use, so I'm not sure that HD would do a trade-up? I guess it's worth checking into...

Thanks again,

Bob

 

[Briana]

Welcome to LawnWorld!

We moved your thread to the Honda forum.

 

[uram]

Greetings,

At the start of this mowing season I purchased a new Honda HHR2169VKA 21" self propelled mower with "Smart Drive" speed control. I found I do not like the Smart Drive thumb operated control as well as the finger controls on previous mowers. I have a hard time holding a constant speed particularly when mowing over bumpy or irregular turf. If I rotate the control to the max stop position the speed is way too fast. The control has several orientation options for user comfort but they have no effect on ground speed. I would like to be able to rotate the control against a stop that is at a slower than the max speed position. I have thought about placing a screw-type hose clamp around the handle bar near the thumb paddle and position it such that the clamp body acts as a stop. Just wondering if anyone else has other suggestions on how to better control the ground speed of this mower.

Thanks for any suggestion you might have!

Bob

The Honda Lawnmower have a very serious design flaw .The blade attachment to the shaft is steel instead breakable metal as safety My friend wracked his $ 400 machine ,hitting a small tree stump .The shaft bent instead the blade brake away .The Japanese didn't copy the US ,design well .

Steve

 

[robert@honda]

The Honda Lawnmower have a very serious design flaw .The blade attachment to the shaft is steel instead breakable metal as safety My friend wracked his $ 400 machine ,hitting a small tree stump .The shaft bent instead the blade brake away .The Japanese didn't copy the US ,design well .

Steve

Hi Steve:

Please share more about mowers with "break-away" blades and how this is safer. Can you give any examples of current mowers that offer this feature?

 

[magbarn]

The Honda Lawnmower have a very serious design flaw .The blade attachment to the shaft is steel instead breakable metal as safety My friend wracked his $ 400 machine ,hitting a small tree stump .The shaft bent instead the blade brake away .The Japanese didn't copy the US ,design well .

Steve

I've seen plenty of 'other brand mowers' with bent shafts from hitting immovable objects. Commercial mowers and homeowner motors can easily die hitting trunks/discarded brake rotors etc... A good landscaper will 'scope out' his job prior to starting his machines if he/she care about their bottom line. Not all will get lucky and just have the flywheel 'breakaway' key break cleanly and save the motor. In fact, you can often replace the flywheel key and start your mower up and realize you've bent the crankshaft anyway. After messing around for years with Briggs/Tecumseh/Chinese 'Chonda' clone engines, I won't settle for anything else other than a Honda motor in my machines.

For the OP, agree with the above as I did just that, I could never get used to the smart drive machines, just too use to the hydrostatic drive on the HYA/HXA mowers...