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!!

Perhaps the problem is specific to your snowblower.  I've had not noticed that it was abrupt.  I don't expect to do clutch dumps on a regular basis on a $2500+ snowblower.

Maybe you should try testing out another snowblower at the dealer to see if it behaves the same.  If it doesn't, then maybe your unit needs work or adjusting.  If it does the same thing, decide if you can tolerate it and get used to it, learn how to feather the clutch, or ease the drive lever to speed.  If not, try other brands, do a clutch dump on all of them and see which one is the softest.

I'm not trying to defend how Honda implement their hydrostatic transmission, I never operated a Yamaha with hydro trans so I don't know if the Yamaha handles clutch dump as gracefully.  Maybe Honda should put in a slipper clutch or hydraulic bypass valve.  Who knows?  Perhaps the next generation of Honda snowblower should be a softer and kinder design.

I am waiting till I run it on the first snow. I will call the dealer that is 50 miles away and see what they say.  As for my old  Yamaha, it was a conventional disc drive, not hydro-drive.  The new Yamaha's are Hydro.  I will ask the question on the Yamaha board and see what the new Yamaha's are like.


HERE IS WHAT I POSTED ON THE YAMAHA BOARD

I need a description or characteristics of how the Yamaha hydro drive works.

Here is why. I just bought a 2012 Honda 9hp two-stage  wheel model to replace my 1988 YS828. It has a hydro trans. I am just curious how the Yamaha's is compared to the Honda's. My problem is the tranny on the Honda clunks and does an instant engagement with no slipping to start with when you push in the clutch like I do on my YS828 and any other snowblower I have owned or used.  Even feathering doesn't work.  I posted this weird characteristic on a  board with a lot of Honda users and  it seems some of the Honda guys have to pull back the hydro drive "speed" lever to neutral every time they let go of the clutch  so they can engage the clutch and THEN advance the speed lever to go from  zero to what ever speed they pick. Otherwise the trans violently engages if you just push in the clutch like any other "disc drive" snowblower that has smooth engagement.  Some think I could have a bad tranny ( I will call dealer Monday)  

Too many people for my liking  seem to do the pull back to neutral and THEN engage the clutch and push on the speed lever to make me think this is a design flaw that everyone has lived with. If so it is a crap design and an incomplete design. The more logical design would be to add a valve that would increase flow from zero to 100% in 2 to 3 seconds to what ever the speed lever was set at when the clutch was engaged. This includes FWD or REV. This would make starting a smooth affair and wouldn't hammer the trans.  Then it would run like any other snowblower that I have ever seen or used.

Always having a hand on the speed lever and dicking around with it seems flawed to me.


How do the Yamaha's with hrdro tranny's work, like Honda above???

    At least on my three machines the clutch can be feathered but no where as easily as on a friction disk implementation.  With practice it would probably be easy to feather but why bother?

    When I do start off in high it's usually only to travel so a quick start is no problem. 

   Inserting a delay would be a bother most of the time when you just want to get going.  Maybe Honda could install and adjustable delay, voice activated. 

Voiced activated via iPhone using Siri.

Well...you guys down south are stll way behind.  Rumour here in Canada that the new Honda RC928TAC (only in Canada) will have remote start so you can start it without leaving your warm house.  And then.....the remote also controls operation and that means you can sit in your living room and control it while the snow flys.  Just like those RC airplanes the kids fly.   Eat your hearts out.  But still no drift cutters as standard equipment.

Then I will have to wait till the snow flies to get some user time on it to see if I can get it to engage without the  clunk. I think I do have to then except that it is a Honda and one of the only things they suck at is automatic transmissions, no difference here too I guess.  Thanks for the help.

Whoha wrote:
I'm not fond of Honda (automobile) brakes, engine power, or styling (Acura!).  They don't suck at it, but aren't great either.   

Transmission, yes, they do suck at that.  

I have a 2001 accord and at 35,000 miles, I had to have the tranny rebuilt.But Honda took care of it and I had the tranny warranty extended to 100,000 miles.I now have 177,000 miles and she purs like a kitten.bullet proof engine....... crappy tranny....

I called the dealer and talked to a service guy,  said  just try to ease it on slowly as best you can. He knows it is not the most refined trans, but says they don't get many trashed trans even though it seems to hammer the trans a bit.  So that's that!

@Whoha,

Where did you buy your Honda HS928WAS from?