My neighbor just gave me(just gave it to me!) a Honda Harmony 215 lawn mower with a GXV 140 engine(135cm), double blade(one atop the other) and plastic deck.
Don't know what year it is and either does he(bought it used). He is moving and he bought a brand new rider.

The mower was sitting all winter long w/o any fuel in the tank. I poured in just a bit, threw down the choke lever and with one pull(a whimpy pull at that) the thing started beautifuly! Cut my lawn with it but I had to push the thing...Not bad!

This mower is very nice after I cleand it up, all cables are in perfect condition and the springs for the rear flap(cover/shoot/bagger area) are "stainless" and clean.

The only thing that doesn't work is the rear self propel.
Pull the lever and nothing! The cable is fine and unbroken/perfectly attached.
The lever(outside the gear box), in which the cable is attached to(under the deck), doesn't seem to move freely. I tried to get it moving, spraying a little penatrating fluid.

I Lifted the mower and set it on 2 saw horses so I could climb under the mower like a car. Looking up, I can see everythink reasonably well.

ANYWAY!
Sorry for the long stroy. But, does anyone have any suggestions for what to do in order to get the gear box working?
Can I just open up this gear box from underneath? Will anything fall out if I do?

My neighbor mentioned that it needed a new cable for the self propel but, after inspection, the cable looks great and it's the lever that doesn't enguage the drive...IDK!

Thanks for any help,

CharBaby

Nice deal for you! That was a ~$500 mower in it's day. Is it the single speed gear drive? Is the drive belt to the drive intact and indeed spinning the input pulley on the little gearbox? You should be able to verify that by (pulling spark plug wire) and spin the blade by hand to make sure the belt is rotating and doing it's thing.

The single speed gearbox housing on my Honda Harmony steel deck (cheaper model) mower is black plastic and the box is grease filled if you remove the bottom cover to inspect. You might want to do that to see whats going on inside. Plano Power would is an excellent mail-order for parts should you need/want them.

Joel

It a 2spd gear box I beleive! I has a lever for turtle and rabbit speeds. Also has a lever for turtle and rabbit in the idle. The belt that I can see, turns the cutting blade and the engine starts with the blade turning(weird for a Honda IMHO).

There isn't a lever to engauge the blade as in some Honda mowers. I'll have to look and see if the gear box requires it's own belt. Otherwise the belt that turns the blade is in great shape and not sloppy in it's movement.

Are you sure it's the GXV140 and not the GCV-series engines? I've never seen a GXV engine on a resin deck before. It would be very odd for the belt to be driving the cutting blade. Can you take a picture of this mower for us?

Hey JTK,
is the Plano Power your talking about the one form Plano Tx? If so I know all those guys well. I've been going there since I was a little kid with my Dad. They do a ridicules amount of business. The owner, Glen, is also a pecan farmer, and X school teacher. That place has been around a long time, and has an enormous parts inventory.

The hr215 did come, at one time with the gxv140 engine, but the crank pulley is driving the transmission. Like all the other rotary mowers the blade is mounted directly to the crank shaft.

Yep, it sure is; http://www.planopower.com/ I've used them for (mail order) Honda parts and they are awesome. They've got just about everything you can imagine in stock.

I feel badly not patronizing my local Honda shop, but anything you need he has to order and he won't send out the order until he needs a bunch of stuff. Usually a 3+ week wait.

Joel

Yikes...I order from Honda almost daily. I'm relatively close to their Alpharetta, GA disribution center so it takes 2 or 3 days to get the parts once the order is placed.

I am indeed! Since you asked, I went out and looked again.
On the oil filler side of the engine(the right side, standing behind the mower with the handle), it's stamped...HONDA GXV 140-135cm 3.

This motor fits onto the deck perfectly with the top motor cover protector is finished nicely with the rear of the deck(near the rear bagger area) in a "shrugged shoulder" look to it.

Can you tell me more? Is this something I should keep or sell? RUNS GREAT! '
I do have one question in the mean time...When checking the oil as with most Honda small engines(I also have a 2 yr old TROY Built w/Honda160 something or other on it), do you check the oil by...unscrewing the dipstick, wipe it off and reincert w/o screwing it back down, pull it out again and read? Oil should read between the min/max cross hatches?

Please tell me more!

I'll try to take pics although this isn't my forte'

I do remember seeing Honda GX's mounted to Honda plastic decked mowers years ago at Home Depot. This was the mid-late 1990's before the GC series engines came out.

I would guess that the model the OP has is at least 12yrs old.

Here's one in this link (and answers the trans question!): Harmony 215

Joel

It's a dipstick, and not a screw stick on hondas.

The link posted here is the exact same mower that I have. Now, posting pictures will only show the nice condition of the mower that I got for free...NICE!

LOL! Now I've got nicknames for my 2 boys when I get irritated with them!

Very interesting, thanks. My HR215 (Masters series, AL deck) has the same fan shroud as yours does. I guess so they could use it on multiple chassis.

Yeah, insert the dip stick until you hit threads and stop. Pull back out and read.

I'd say this is definitely a keeper. The GXV-series engines are very nice engines and it'll probably run long enough to hand it down to your next of kin.

Thanks guys! The Harmony that my neighbor gave is the same one shown in the link that JTK provided but, mine has a 2 spd propel and gray handles, not plack handles as the one pictured. Mine also is in as nice of shape(after cleaning) as the one shown.

My buddy, also a Honda mower fan, stopped over for a beer in the late afternoon yesterday and to take a look. He was quite inpressed. He snapped a couple of pic's so I could show'em here but, JTK already posted the link of the Honda Harmony 215 like the one that I have. So, I found no need to post my pic's. Thank You JTK!

I may just keep this mower for now and use it by alternating with the TROY BUILT/Honda that I just bought 2 summers ago. And fix the gear box...Or not!

The TROY BUILT/Honda that I recently bought from LOWES is a non self propelled push and is as easy and light to push as a vacuum cleaner.

Did you get the owners manual for that lawn mower engine? Here it is http://engines.honda.com/pdf/manuals/31ZG9642.pdf