Abby’s Guide > Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) > Discussions > Honda HS621 restoration
Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions |
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jrtrebor
 
Location: Michigan - 3 hours north of Chicago on the lake
Joined: Feb 10, 2010
Points: 539
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Honda HS621 restoration
Original Message Oct 27, 2013 8:57 pm |
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Well here is my most recent find. Actually I bought it at an auction back in August. But didn't get around to restoring it until earlier this month. It was pretty rough but started on the second pull. So figured it was worth the 40.00 I paid for it.   The upper handle was pretty messed up. So I replaced it with one that I kept around from and old Toro CCR2000. It bolted right up and was also a little longer than the stock Honda handle. Which is nice.   Stripped and repainted the muffler cover. As well as the lower handles.   The blower housing sides needed quite a bit of straighting. Also welded on a small piece of steel onto the bottom of the left side where it had been worn off. Not adding the piece would have allowed snow and water to get inside what is the belt and pulley compartment. That would not be good. Installed a new set of paddles and a new scraper that I bought on ebay for $53.00   Cleaned up everything inside. Have to say that these blower are really well built. The steel used for the bucket and the undercarriage is heavy gauge. Actually the undercarriage is plate steel. The bracket between the engine and the bucket is like something you would find in a automobile.   Sandblasted the bucket and sealed some of the joints with auto Spot putty. Gave it two coats of Rustoleum Red oxide primer. Then two top coats of Krylon Tough Rust semi gloss. I did end up giving the center interior section of the housing another coat of black Rustoleum Hammer finish. That gave it a smoother, slicker finish and that paint if extremely durable. That is also what I painted the auger with.     Didn't do much else other than check the carb bowl for dirt or signs of water. Replaced the plug, oil was good and clean. Belt was good. So it's ready to go. In case some of you noticed there is a modification that I made. I designed a chute rotator system for it. Which I will show in another thread.
This message was modified Jan 2, 2014 by a moderator
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aa335
Joined: Nov 29, 2008
Points: 2434
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Re: Honda HS621 restoration
Reply #19 Dec 25, 2013 11:07 pm |
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I saw tiny parts of the belt on the snow and I smelled burnt belt. I don't know how I managed doing that. Talent is needed... Anyway I googled and all the related videos were not available for my newly acquired iPad mini. I will watch them on android. I miss my old HS35 which did a great job of clearing snow. In fact now I will go outside and shovel some more because it snowed today after yesterday's shoveling. Lots of exercise. :D The HS621 is significantly better machine performance wise than the HS35. However, the HS35 is quite an engineering design. It is so stout and robust that it is begging for a much more powerful engine. Unfortunately, such a design today would be highly cost prohibitive. Even maintaining the old HS35 in running shape is expensive already. The symptoms of clogging and burn smell and bits of rubber on the inside are indicators of slipping belt. Definitely a belt tension or routing issues. jrtrebor is right on target with his assessment on the root cause. The belt should be under that little tab next to the crank pulley. While you have the belt cover open, I would look around to see if anything else needs attention. Check the idler pulley to make sure that it is spinning without excessive play and not binding. Also, the idler arm should pivoting smoothly without and excessive play. Try spinning the auger without the belt engaged and check for any binding there as well. Problems might be a seized or worn out auger shaft bearing. That's pretty much it. These older Honda are quite well built and they are a joy to work on. Most problems can be easily taken care while the belt cover is off.
This message was modified Dec 26, 2013 by aa335
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aa335
Joined: Nov 29, 2008
Points: 2434
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Re: Honda HS621 restoration
Reply #20 Dec 25, 2013 11:22 pm |
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It's throwing distance is at least as good as the Toro 5hp models.
It's a tighter stream that a Toro.
Also haven't had any problem with chute clogging with the wet stuff.
My experience with the HS621 is the same as yours. The HS621 isn't a throwing distance champion compared to today's Toro's. However, it still has the tightest stream of any SS snowblower, right up there with the HS520. It gives up bit of throwing distance, but what it does superior to the newer Toro is in the slush. The flat center paddle will pump the packed slush up the chute even up the point of stalling the engine. The Toro will sometimes clog at the chute. The other day I was out clearing a 1 1/2 inch of really wet snow. I used the Toro 421QE. None of my neighbors even bothered with using a snowblower, it would be useless. The Toro did clogged several times and I thought retiring the Toro and bring out the Honda HS621 to do the slush clearing. It would be superior to any snowblower for this kind of stuff, except for an older Toro S620 with the flat paddles. I kept the Toro on to finish the job because I was a little lazy and feel like having two dripping wet snowblowers in my garage. :)
This message was modified Dec 26, 2013 by aa335
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blumonster
Location: Wisc.
Joined: Oct 14, 2011
Points: 163
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Re: Honda HS621 restoration
Reply #23 Dec 29, 2013 2:37 am |
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Sounds like either the tension pulley is getting at the belt. Which could be because the pulley is out of alignment. Or it could be the the belt is not routed correctly. Usually there is a diagram on the inside of the belt cover on most SS machines that show the correct way to route the belt. On Toro's there is a post with a nylon sleeve on it. If the belt doesn't get placed on the correct side of that post it will eat belts. The Honda's don't have that post. But they have a "Belt Keeper" just in front of the crankshaft pulley. The Keeper has a "notch" in the top of it. So it looks as if the belt should run over the top in that notch. But in fact, it's supposed to run underneath the keeper as shown in the photo below. If it's run over the top your going to get binding, reduced power to the auger and it's going to eat up your belt. Just a thought.  Thanlk you for the help jtrebor. I opened it up yesterday and compared the current belt with the previous one and Honda belt. Honda belt is thinner than the other two, must be a belt issue. I tried it after putting the new belt although there was no new snow to clear. It worked fine. I will report back when we get new snowfall.
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blumonster
Location: Wisc.
Joined: Oct 14, 2011
Points: 163
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Re: Honda HS621 restoration
Reply #24 Dec 29, 2013 2:44 am |
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The HS621 is significantly better machine performance wise than the HS35. However, the HS35 is quite an engineering design. It is so stout and robust that it is begging for a much more powerful engine. Unfortunately, such a design today would be highly cost prohibitive. Even maintaining the old HS35 in running shape is expensive already.
The symptoms of clogging and burn smell and bits of rubber on the inside are indicators of slipping belt. Definitely a belt tension or routing issues. jrtrebor is right on target with his assessment on the root cause. The belt should be under that little tab next to the crank pulley. While you have the belt cover open, I would look around to see if anything else needs attention. Check the idler pulley to make sure that it is spinning without excessive play and not binding. Also, the idler arm should pivoting smoothly without and excessive play. Try spinning the auger without the belt engaged and check for any binding there as well. Problems might be a seized or worn out auger shaft bearing. That's pretty much it. These older Honda are quite well built and they are a joy to work on. Most problems can be easily taken care while the belt cover is off. Thank you for the help, aa335. It was just the belt. I like it when the solution is simple. Augur spinned when turned by hand, though not super fast. Also noticed the free play on the handle, could not measure it as the manual described but it looked normal. Idler pulley was spinning fine. When the machine was tilted back, a pool of gas drained by itself on the ground. Is that how it should be when you tilt it?
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aa335
Joined: Nov 29, 2008
Points: 2434
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Re: Honda HS621 restoration
Reply #26 Jan 2, 2014 4:13 pm |
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Thank you for the help, aa335. It was just the belt. I like it when the solution is simple. Augur spinned when turned by hand, though not super fast. Also noticed the free play on the handle, could not measure it as the manual described but it looked normal. Idler pulley was spinning fine. When the machine was tilted back, a pool of gas drained by itself on the ground. Is that how it should be when you tilt it? I use the manual as a baseline for setting the tension. It's kind of a guestimate for the play on the bail handle. I just fine tune it from there, which is a just a notch tighter than stock. Just make sure it is not too tight. You will prematurely stretch the belt and not let the auger brake engage properly. I have not seen any kind of fuel coming out of this snowblower. Can't tell you if what you're seeing is normal.
This message was modified Jan 2, 2014 by aa335
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