Small Engines (Lawn Mowers, etc.): Rear Wheels on Honda Lawn Mower HRB216TDA, honda lawn mower, wheel hub

Question
I have a Honda Lawn Mower model HRB216TDA.  I've had it for several years.  The rear wheel drive seemed to stick a little so I removed both rear wheels and saw the pinion gear and wheel gear and greased them well.  That helped a lot.  I decided I would buy 2 new rear wheels since the ones on the mower are badly worn.  Now I cannot get the rear wheels off.  I remove the bolt and they will not budge.  I have tinkered with it quite a bit and don't know what I did to cause this.  I've also noticed that the right rear wheel is not engaged.  My drive is only off the left rear wheel.  I suspect that the right rear pinion gear is not engaging the gear on the wheel but I can't get the wheel off to investigate.  I can still use the mower as is so I don't want to break it trying to remove the wheels with force.  Any thoughts on this problem?  By the way, I went to the service department at the local Honda shop and asked and they said that sometimes the wheel gear gets hung up on the pinion gear and I just need to rotate the wheel a little and then pull.  I did that several times and it didn't help.

Answer
It is probably hung on the pinion.  The  grease tends to collect lots of dust/debris and could cause some additional binding.  Can you spray some carburetor cleaner or brake cleaner up near/behind the wheel to see if that helps free the pinion?  You can try gently tapping on the center of the wheel hub with a hammer as you rotate the wheel back and forth.

Let me know if the cleaner and hammer trick helps.

Eric