Just been given this honda 475 rear roller mower, the lady says it jumps when drive is applied. Starts and runs perfect, when you engage the drive it sounds like something is clicking and jerking loudly until you give it a little push forward and then it stops and drives fine. Its been in for a looking at and was fixed mid season and its started doing it again. Shes sick of it and is buying a new one in the spring. Any ideas what could be the matter?

The chain has started to drop off my mower that had a new gearbox 5 months or so ago, i put the chain back on once and within 5 mins dropped off again, Where abouts is this pin that shears?

I believe it was your original post on the shortage that caused it all Mick.    

Finally got round to replacing the solenoid today and were back to starting on the key. Its a fiddly little job to do but got there in the end.

Hi, Mick.
Ive not looked any further at it as electrics aint my thing and ive been at work last couple of days. I wouldnt know how to test if ive got power to the solenoid or not. All the cut off / cut out safety devices were removed by the previous owner years ago. For the sake of £15 i'll swap the solenoid and keep my fingers crossed.

Countax rideon c300h, has decided it is its turn for to frustrate me. When i turn the key the dash lights come on but nothing to the starter motor, it will hot wire directly to the starter and runs like a dream all day, just wont turn over on the key. There is a little block where the wires connect to next to the fuel tank, could it be this that has failed as ive just looked on ebay and over 500 of these have been sold so they obviouslty fail but are my symptoms pointing to this? BTW im crap with electrics.

fire it up and leave it running for half an hour, im betting same as mick that its been tipped up and the exhaust has oil in it. My Dad had one from new bought in 1984 and used right up until 2017 when it was stolen, it didnt use a drop of oil and it was worked hard throughout its life with him.

just been for another look now ive cooled down a bit, I took the belt off the clutch pulley to eliminate the deck and the engine stalls when you turn the clutch on, it just dies like its been turned off. Frustrating!!!!!!

so it turns out its not the deck but a electrical fault somewhere,

My Husky cth224t mower was parked up for 6 months because the drive belt slipped off and didnt have the time or inclination to do it so used the ever faithful bullet proof mountfield 1436. Anyhow, now ive replaced the drive belt and it works fine but when i pull the switch for the cutters to engage the engine slows and nearly stalls. Its like its put under huge strain, like something is stuck under the deck rather than an electrical fault but when i put my hand under the deck and spin the blades they are free and turn easily. Any ideas?

is it not possible to ultrasonic clean and re kit the carb? ive a chinese (ebay) carb on my mantis and its worked well for 2 years, only reason i have is because when i bought it from a farm sale it had no carb on it.

http://www.rowenacarbs.co.uk/ This place is the best ive found for carb spares, i buy all my chainsaw carb kits from here. Ive always found it easier to ring them than go through their website

Ive just looked on the mantis web site and there is no parts department anymore, they used to list all their spares.

As my mantis is only used a few times a year i run it on Aspen rather than pump fuel as it doesnt go off like pump fuel.

is it the type of carb that sits on the tank? You need to fill these tans right to the brim with fuel as the fuel needs to fill the second chamber in the tank for the first time.

Was the new tank and carb brand new or just new to you? If its new to you it could well have the same problem that the origional carb and tank had. When i took my honda into the shop the guy i was talking to said they must have done something in the production of petrol late last year as they have never seen so many mowers with varnished internal carb parts due to leaving petrol in over winter.

is swapping a gearbox easy enough? ive done one on a mountfield a few years ago but when i was swapping the clutch cable on this honda it looked a lot more in depth to remove the gearbox, is it within the capabilitys of a bit better than average home mechanic? Im a bit hesitant to send it in as its a 2006 model and im pretty sure they will say its not worth doing and will try and sell me a new one.

My honda 426qxe is a 2006 model and the drive has started slowing down after a couple minutes use and then pretty much will not drive itself at all and have to push it.  Its currently on its second gearbox according to the receipts that came with it when purchased 10 years ago second hand from a dealers. Is it ready for another gearbox? ive just changed the clutch cable as i was told it could be stretched but a stretched cable wouldnt cause the drive to slow after 2 minutes, but for less than a tenner i thought it as worth a try. Its a good mower apart from the drive problem. Any ideas?