questions about an HRM215

btw, i have already taken off the wheels, the drive gears are working fine, I cleaned and regreased anyway. The belt is there and driving the transaxle. I cannot get it to run long enough tipped on its side to see if the belt slips when the wheels are stopped, but i do know the axle stops turning.

I'm sure you have followed the adjustment procedure in the owner's manual. Unless your manual has gone missing. In that case, you can download a copy off of the Honda Power Equipment site.

Which transmission does your HRM215 have? Is is gear driven or hydrostatic?

The pinions have a right way and a wrong way to go onto the drive axel. The drive axel actually rotates in "reverse" when the transmission is engaged, propelling the wheels forward. I had one I got from another person who had disassembled the mower, and put them in backwards when he reassembled it.

There is a punch mark on the pinion gear. That mark goes on the inside for the left wheel, and on the outside for the right wheel.

Hope that helps.

yep, pinions are in correctly. had a chance to look at it again today, when engaged and off ground, everything works. when i grab a wheel and hold on tight, or out on ground, the wheels stop, gearbox chatters, belt and pulley keep spinning.

If the cable is adjusted correctly, and the pinions are on the right way, then I'd guess you've got some problems inside the transmission. You must have the gear driven version? What letters are there after the HRM215 on your mower?

its a HRM215 K3 SXA

Looking over the shop manual supplement covering the K3, looks like that should be a Dana/Spicer transmission and it has what they call a dog style clutch. Could be that the lobes on the drive part of the clutch have worn, allowing the two parts that are supposed to engage each other are slipping past each other, causing the chatter you mention.

Internal parts for the K3 gear transmission are not available. A new transmission is about $198 (list price) and ordered from any Honda dealer. You can find one near you here, or an active online dealer at Google.com:

Honda Power Equipment - Find a dealer

Have the serial number off the back of the mower deck if you decide to buy one; this will help the parts clerk get the exact and correct one for your mower. It should be in the form of MXXX-1234567

Here is something I stumbled upon at You Tube on the transmission issue.
Take a look: You could have the same problem?
He fails to show HOW he shimmed the transmission lever to correct the problem, but it show the guts of the tranny.
Just a thought instead of a new tranny.