Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

I just picked up a 2012 Honda HS928K1WA. I just replaced my Yamaha YS828 and am clueless  on Honda's Hydro-static trans..

How do you use it?? If I put it is what would be speed 3 and engage the clutch it clunks and does an instant engagement. There is no slipping the clutch so to speak no matter how slow I engage it or how fast.  OR do I have to always have to have it in neutral and ease it up to speed every time I have to start out. If so, that would suck. HELP!!

@Whoha

Interesting username.    All in the same, its either a playground or a toxic waste zone.  The creator has an amazing sense of humor.

I was quite surprised you used a Dremel to cut out few extra notches on the chute ring, although I know why extra rotation is desired.  That take some guts or insanity.  Most people wouldn't have the heart to hack a brand new snowblower that hasn't even seen a snowflake or has gone through an oil change. 

If the transmission is really an issue, there should be a lot more people b*tching and whining about it.  It's not like Honda snowblower were just released last year.

Again, I would suggest getting your new snowblower checked out or at least compare how an identical HS928 transmission operates.  It's not necessary to call Honda engineers INEPT across the board because of an isolated problem.  Not that I need to defend engineers for whatever reasons, but if you're dropping $2500 on a snowblower that is still in warranty, it's the least you can do before mudslinging.

What is H1?

Hummer H1

MN_Runner wrote:
H1 would be the original Humvy

Sorry, I am an Air Force guy.

No problem, I'm just a civilian who's not up to date with  the  latest Jane's publications.  :)

Sorry for another question.  What do you mean by "Jane's publication"?  It is not a common phrase in MN.

MN_Runner wrote:

Jane's is a series of books on military weapons of all sorts. It's an exhaustive resource and they cover everything you can imagine.

Here is a link if it's military Jane's has it.

http://www.amazon.com/Janes-Tanks-Combat-Vehicles-Recognition/dp/0004724526

http://articles.janes.com/articles/indepth/jiw.html

http://jawa.janes.com/public/jawa/index.shtml

The meager  snowfall in Minneapolis gave me some user time on my Honda, I did 3 driveways. Here is what I found out with that very very short time of use.  I found that I need to always be around  1/4 throttle to engage the trans. Going from fwd to rev is great and is fluid.   I am having a hard time relearning the right hand shoot turning handle. It seems just SO unnatural. Time will change that. With such little wet snow I have only that to go by on how this Honda is compared in performance  to my Yamaha. As it sits with this snowfall I feel the Yamaha can throw snow farther, and has more torque,  but it is a new tight motor, so I will have to give it time to break-in the motor.
I did do some heavy load runs on a bike path next to my house. I would throw snow directly in front of the snowblower so I could put a nice load on the motor to start the proper high load piston ring break-in procedure. If we have wimpy snowfalls and I can't get a good load on the machine I will keep doing the bike path runs so I can break the motor in right. I will be doing my first oil change today.

I did notice that the Honda has a very conservative governor system.  After about 5 hours of break-in time I think I will turn up the rpm another 200rpms. Depending on how the governor system is designed, this may help that issue out.

In order to be familiar with Janes publications you need to be a defense contractor or someone who watches news a lot. :D