# HS80 - discharge chute rotation problem



## snow80 (Dec 31, 2012)

The discharge chute rotation works smoothly in one direction, but has a tendency to jam in the other direction. Originally it wouldn't turn at all. I removed the clamps, cleaned and lubricated everything, which improved operation significantly. In the problem direction it rotates one handle turn or so, then jams. I counter rotate the handle a bit, which "unlocks" the jammed handle and I can rotate it another turn or so, but I'd like to fix this. Any suggestions? There's slop in the bearings that hold the spiral gear driven by the handle. Is that likely to be the issue, or is it in the bearing clamps that hold the rotating chute base?


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## bwdbrn1 (Nov 24, 2010)

Does that spiral gear tend to "climb" up onto the teeth on the chute when you change direction you are turning it? I think you might be on the right track looking at the amount of play in that area.


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## [email protected] (Nov 21, 2011)

The HS80 is an older model; Honda discontinued it in the USA way back in 1988. Not sure if it was ever sold in Canada, maybe.

In the shop manual, there's nothing specific about this problem, but on the one page with the chute parts, there is a brief note about the bushing at the base of the chute:

_"*Reassembly:* Check for wear or breakage and replace as necessary. Install with alignment tabs forward."_

The bad news is this bushing (#4) is no longer available from Honda.  It's possible some dealer somewhere might have one; ask for P/N 76325-732-000 ($17.70)

You may want to check the slop in the crank handle bushings too; looks like there are three (#14), one at each side of the worm gear and a third at the crank support. These are still available, P/N 76343-732-000, $3.74 list price.










[email protected]
_Caveat: I work for Honda, but the preceding is my opinion alone._


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## snow80 (Dec 31, 2012)

bwdbrn1 said:


> Does that spiral gear tend to "climb" up onto the teeth on the chute when you change direction you are turning it? I think you might be on the right track looking at the amount of play in that area.


Yes, it climbs a bit - more than it should. I tried holding the shaft down so the gear didn't climb up, but it didn't seem to fix it as well as I thought it would. I suspect I need to get the wife to run the crank while I hold it (or do a kludge temporary fix with some bailing wire to see if it helps), as it was hard to do both at the same time - crank and hold. I was hoping someone else might have encountered the issue and fixed it.


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## snow80 (Dec 31, 2012)

[email protected] said:


> T there is a brief note about the bushing #4 at the base of the chute:


On my initial cleaning I was able to get this bushing reasonably smoothly operating with limited slop. I think it's in decent shape.



> You may want to check the slop in the crank handle bushings too; looks like there are three (#14),


I suspect it's in those bushings. Thanks for the info on availability. The bushings are either very worn or missing. I'll look closely and probably end up tracking down replacements.


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## Larry68 (Mar 9, 2013)

*Honda chute problem*


*Hi there, I have a old Honda HS-50. I had trouble withthe chute not turning. I saw the chute was kind of wobbly. I read on here some place that the bushing the chute sits on get worn. It will then cause the gears not to mesh properly. You can not get that bushing from Honda. They discontinued it. I read on hear to buy a teflon cutting board sheets.(like from Target where I got mine) I am not completly sure I got teflon, but some kind of plastic that looks like it. My chute has a 5" diameter. I cut 2 5" inside circles with a 1/2" FOR THE CHUTE TO REST OR TURN ON. i HAD TO USE 2. I am not sure of the thickness, but these cutting sheet came 4 in a package with 2 large and 2 small. I am guesing between 1/8" to 3/16" with the two pieces together. I tried one first and it was still loose so I added the other. It was slightly loose yet so I Pounded the 3 brakets down with a Large screw driver and hammer. It was enough to tighten it. Hope this helps.*


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## snow80 (Dec 31, 2012)

Larry68 said:


> *Hi there, I have a old Honda HS-50. I had trouble withthe chute not turning. I saw the chute was kind of wobbly. I read on here some place that the bushing the chute sits on get worn. It will then cause the gears not to mesh properly. You can not get that bushing from Honda. They discontinued it. I read on hear to buy a teflon cutting board sheets.(like from Target where I got mine) I am not completly sure I got teflon, but some kind of plastic that looks like it. My chute has a 5" diameter. I cut 2 5" inside circles with a 1/2" FOR THE CHUTE TO REST OR TURN ON. i HAD TO USE 2. I am not sure of the thickness, but these cutting sheet came 4 in a package with 2 large and 2 small. I am guesing between 1/8" to 3/16" with the two pieces together. I tried one first and it was still loose so I added the other. It was slightly loose yet so I Pounded the 3 brakets down with a Large screw driver and hammer. It was enough to tighten it. Hope this helps.*


Thank you for the comments. It turned out that there was some sort of pasty sticky contamination on the chute of my HS80. Whatever the previous owner had used had turned into a material like sticky putty. When rotated one direction, the chute lifted away from the sticky stuff. When rotated the other way, it was pushed into it and wouldn't turn. 

I needed to remove the chute, clean off all the old crud with a solvent and relubricate. Some of the crud was stuck to a plastic 5" diameter piece - which sounds like the bushing you made. Once mine was perfectly clean, I lubricated it again and reassembled and it worked great. My bushing is slightly worn, so if I need to replace it I'll use your method.


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