# Recommended If You Own A Honda HS Model...



## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

Donyboy73 has a good video on this on You Tube on how to install grease fitting on Honda final drive gearboxes.
I've done dozens and it's pretty easy if you have the right size drill bit and tap. Dony tells sizes. It takes an M6 grease zerk.

Pump it full of Marine water resistant grease. All the gearboxes I have opened are dry and/or water contaminated. You may get more years of service
with fresh grease before the axle pin or a tooth breaks on a gear. 

I think @JnC mentions this in his thread on rebuilding/servicing the right side tranny.


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## Freezn (Mar 1, 2014)

Thought about doing this upgrade a number of times. Need to bite the bullet and set aside an hour and just get it done. Any idea roughly how much grease is needed?


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

Freezn said:


> Thought about doing this upgrade a number of times. Need to bite the bullet and set aside an hour and just get it done. Any idea roughly how much grease is needed?


I just pump in about 50 pumps and then every fall do about 20 pumps from grease gun. It could probably take a whole canister. The idea to me is just get plenty of good fresh grease in there to coat gears, bearings , and bushings. 

I have seen these gearboxes last 30 years without new grease but every one that I have had to repair is around 20-25 years old when the axle pin breaks or some teeth break due to worn out bushings and the gears not meshing well. 

Generally the repair is about $500. Half parts and half labor. It's a job. 4-5 hours for me ( if I'm lucky ). rusted on bearings and such takes more time. 
So this maintenance point is well worth it if you can get some extra seasons out of it.


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## Northeast Dave (Apr 29, 2020)

My HS50 has a rubber cover on the exterior for the axle end that passes through the final gear box. I was planning on greasing through this hole, is that not advisable?


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

Northeast Dave said:


> My HS50 has a rubber cover on the exterior for the axle end that passes through the final gear box. I was planning on greasing through this hole, is that not advisable?


Good question. Will have to check my 50 to see if this is doable. I thought you repacked this gearbox when you restored yours? Should be good for a long long time.
BTW on the auger gearbox on a 50 it is a closed unit with no oil drain plug . When the seals fail and start to leak I am not sure you can find seals to replace so I just install a zerk and pump in a bunch of grease instead of oil. Seems to work well. The point is to keep those gears lubed...


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## burieddeep (Jan 17, 2017)

If I have an old HS928 that seems to be functioning well, do I need to open and clean out the gearbox first, which I gather would be a significant job?


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## contender (Jan 18, 2018)

GOT, may not agree with me, if a HS 724, 928, or 1132 , have only been used for private use and are still working, I just install the grease fitting and start pumping grease in, after about 20 pumps, I fire up the machine and drive it forwards and backwards , for a couple hundred feet each direction and do the same thing again. Also always watching for grease to ooze out any where.... I have done this on quite a number of machines and never had one back yet!!!!

I might also add, probably against some peoples thoughts, if adding the grease fitting on the above example, I don't even open the case, I drill and tap right on the machine, I do try to minimize the shavings I loose, with grease on the drill and on the tap and a vacuum running, but they are aluminum shavings so not going to destroy the transmission case...... just my 5 cents worth........


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## Snowfanatic (Apr 7, 2019)

Like a poster asked above, would the old grease need to be cleaned out first due to possible issues with the grease mixing. I have a very low hour machine and am not worried about this yet but is something I should do in the future. Any ideas what kind of grease Honda uses?


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

contender said:


> GOT, may not agree with me, if a HS 724, 928, or 1132 , have only been used for private use and are still working, I just install the grease fitting and start pumping grease in, after about 20 pumps, I fire up the machine and drive it forwards and backwards , for a couple hundred feet each direction and do the same thing again. Also always watching for grease to ooze out any where.... I have done this on quite a number of machines and never had one back yet!!!!
> 
> I might also add, probably against some peoples thoughts, if adding the grease fitting on the above example, I don't even open the case, I drill and tap right on the machine, I do try to minimize the shavings I loose, with grease on the drill and on the tap and a vacuum running, but they are aluminum shavings so not going to destroy the transmission case...... just my 5 cents worth........


Just saw your post today and agree with you 100%. I do not open the gearbox if it is working. I have opened many gearboxes only when they have failed. Usually it is a broken pin on the axle or a chipped tooth that makes the machine skip. In every gearbox i have opened the grease is dry and caked off to the side and/or water got inside and started rusting the gears etc.

I know some members here may service this gearbox by opening but I never would. You are looking at a minimum 4 hour job ( on tracked models ). This grease fitting is an excellent proactive idea. Pump it full of grease and extend the life.


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## Snowfanatic (Apr 7, 2019)

Will doing this almost guarantee to never have a gear box failure or is it prone to fail at some point? I have some oem snowmobile skid grease that would work good I would think.


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## Toon (May 11, 2021)

While nothing lasts forever this grease zerk upgrade will definitely help the right-side transmission last a lot longer to indefinite.
This transmission dried out after about 20 years.









These are the parts I ended up replacing because I wanted to bring it back to as new condition, but it could have been done cheaper with repaired parts.









This was one of my early repairs and I used white Lithium grease. I now fill the gearbox almost completely with marine grease as water does not wash it out.









New grease zerk.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

Snowfanatic said:


> Will doing this almost guarantee to never have a gear box failure or is it prone to fail at some point? I have some oem snowmobile skid grease that would work good I would think.


no guarantees buddy. There are wear items in this box. 3 bearings and 2 plastic bushings which usually go first. But servicing it with new grease will greatly help. When I open up a box I almost always replace the bushings and I also replace the countershaft. It's only about $21. Those fine splines wear down and then you'll have problems. Found this out the hard way.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

Toon said:


> While nothing lasts forever this grease zerk upgrade will definitely help the right-side transmission last a lot longer to indefinite.
> This transmission dried out after about 20 years.
> View attachment 203242
> 
> ...


Excellent post Toon. I like how you pointed out the worn slot on the main gear and replacing the countershaft as I almost always do because of the worn splines. I also replace the 2 plastic bushings ( if that is what they are called )
Most gearboxes will last 20 years or more before some kind of failure. The marine grease is a good call. That is what I use. Water resistant.
Now with your rebuild and grease zerk you are good for at least 30 years....perhaps longer. Never understood why Honda never though of this. They thought that dust cap would never come off??? haha


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## Snowfanatic (Apr 7, 2019)

orangputeh said:


> no guarantees buddy. There are wear items in this box. 3 bearings and 2 plastic bushings which usually go first. But servicing it with new grease will greatly help. When I open up a box I almost always replace the bushings and I also replace the countershaft. It's only about $21. Those fine splines wear down and then you'll have problems. Found this out the hard way.


Appreciate the response, I get what you’re saying about no guarantees. My only concern of not doing it would be the parts availability 20 yrs from now since they switched transmissions 7 years ago already. I understand the desire for marine grease for its water repellent properties but isn’t it only normally good till about 10 degrees? Not trying to overthink this but would it hurt to just use a synthetic low temp and do it more often?


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

Snowfanatic said:


> Not trying to overthink this


Too late... The original grease is clay-based Bentonite. Anything modern is likely an improvement.


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## Snowfanatic (Apr 7, 2019)

tabora said:


> Too late... The original grease is clay-based Bentonite. Anything modern is likely an improvement.


Lol true. Thanks for the info.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

Snowfanatic said:


> Appreciate the response, I get what you’re saying about no guarantees. My only concern of not doing it would be the parts availability 20 yrs from now since they switched transmissions 7 years ago already. I understand the desire for marine grease for its water repellent properties but isn’t it only normally good till about 10 degrees? Not trying to overthink this but would it hurt to just use a synthetic low temp and do it more often?


do what more often? dismantle gearbox and service it? no way Jose. too much work.
I just like installing grease zerk and pumping in new grease.
Use whatever you are comfortable with. Synthetic is great.


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## Tony-chicago (Feb 10, 2021)

Where does the old grease go? Sure a lot breaks down and makes space but after a while... well good idea to keep it full.


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

Tony-chicago said:


> Where does the old grease go? Sure a lot breaks down and makes space but after a while... well good idea to keep it full.


The original grease is Bentonite-based. It eventually dries up and shrinks.
Bentonite grease advantages

High-temperature resistance.
Non melting.
Good sealing properties.
Softening resistance.
Maintenance decrease.
Non leaking.


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## Snowfanatic (Apr 7, 2019)

orangputeh said:


> do what more often? dismantle gearbox and service it? no way Jose. too much work.
> I just like installing grease zerk and pumping in new grease.
> Use whatever you are comfortable with. Synthetic is great.


No no, I meant use a synthetic grease more often since it may wash out more frequently. I see Phillips66 offers a bentonite clay based grease. Granted it’s not a cheap date at 50.00 a tube would it be worthwhile to go that route since googling shows bentonite doesn’t like to play well with others?


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

I'm not a tech head like some here. I have rebuilt about 10 of these gearboxes and fill them all the way with red Marine grease. Only been a couple years. Too soon to tell.

will check back in 25.


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## mikeinri (Mar 16, 2015)

tabora said:


> The original grease is Bentonite-based. It eventually dries up and shrinks.
> Bentonite grease advantages
> 
> High-temperature resistance.
> ...


Are you advocating to keep using Bentonite, or to switch to marine grease?

And if switching to marine grease, would you clean out the old Bentonite first? (On a machine with 10 winters of homeowner use, albeit with heavy snow?)

Thanks. 

Mike


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## tabora (Mar 1, 2017)

mikeinri said:


> Are you advocating to keep using Bentonite, or to switch to marine grease?
> And if switching to marine grease, would you clean out the old Bentonite first? (On a machine with 10 winters of homeowner use, albeit with heavy snow?)


I'm told that cleaning out the original grease is a best-practice, especially if you're looking for damaged parts. Since Bentonite grease necessarily doesn't play well with others, if you have the gearbox open I would certainly clean it out.
Here's what they often look like:









And after cleaning out and repacking:


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## mikeinri (Mar 16, 2015)

Thanks, @tabora! Is there a gasket, or do you use Permatex (or something else, or nothing) when you put it back together?

Mike


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## Toon (May 11, 2021)

You can buy a Honda gasket online for between $11 and $15 or if you are in a hurry and have some gasket material, you can make your own.
This gasket is for a HS50 but you can get the idea.









This gasket below is for an HS828 but I think all HSXXX right-side transmissions use the same gasket.


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## mikeinri (Mar 16, 2015)

Thanks. 

I do hear an occasional, intermittent squeal/screech noise sometimes when the machine is moving. Haven't pinpointed the source. 

Does that sound like something that could be caused by dry parts inside the right-side transmission?

Mike


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

i


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## Toon (May 11, 2021)

I wouldn't think anything inside the gearbox would squeak. It's more likely to grind or clunk. The squeak may be caused by a dry track roller bushing or a belt idler pulley.


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## 2badknees (Jan 28, 2017)

I did the donyboy 73 zirk fitting upgrade on 2 machines. I was at a loss to figure out how much grease to pump in. So in each blower, I pumped 50, then operated it, then another 50, and drove it, and then 60 pumps and cleared more snow. I could see nothing splugging out of the drive shaft or any other areas. I got a 160 pumps out of the tube of grease before it emptied.

I relied heavily on the information here and on donyboy. Not second guessing anyone here. I only want to fill in a gap.


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## orangputeh (Nov 24, 2016)

2badknees said:


> I did the donyboy 73 zirk fitting upgrade on 2 machines. I was at a loss to figure out how much grease to pump in. So in each blower, I pumped 50, then operated it, then another 50, and drove it, and then 60 pumps and cleared more snow. I could see nothing splugging out of the drive shaft or any other areas. I got a 160 pumps out of the tube of grease before it emptied.
> 
> I relied heavily on the information here and on donyboy. Not second guessing anyone here. I only want to fill in a gap.


Like JnC mentioned you can't over fill this gearbox. The grease would push out at shafts. not a bad thing. just a little messy.

Any new grease in this box is a good thing. Water contamination is what I see in almost every gearbox I open so lots of grease is good. will keep water away from moving parts and everything else.


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## mikeinri (Mar 16, 2015)

I haven't seen red marine grease before, only blue.

What brand are you using, and would Lucas Red and Tacky be acceptable for this job?

Mike


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## 2badknees (Jan 28, 2017)

I could’nt find red either. Bought a pale blue from o’rilleys. 8 bucks a tube and it was the only synthetic they had. -20 degree


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## Toon (May 11, 2021)

This is the grease I use, which is red.


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