beat crankshaft to straight, now 550ex won't start

[Lyle]

My son hit something with our 4 year old Troy Bilt w/ 550ex B&S OHV engine and bent the crankshaft.
I tilted it on it's side, took off blade and sledgehammered the shaft straight again. (Same thing happened last year, and this worked then.)
Now it won't start. The past couple weekends I've taken off and cleaned carb, put a new spark plug in it, new gas, etc. no luck.
I crank and I get some white smoke from carb when I have the filter off. No smoke from exhaust.
It's getting a spark and seems to almost want to try to start but doesn't really even fire.
I think with the white smoke, something is trying to combust.
Did I mess up the timing, maybe? Damage the carb diaphragm? Any ideas?
I'm tired of smelling like gas every weekend....

 

[Lyle]

It may be worth mentioning, once I was done beating on it and put the sharpened blade back on, it did not want to turn with the rope. I had to forcibly turn the blade to hideous grinding noises and resistance. It finally broke free and turned normally. After looking at articles and videos on timing these engines, I wonder if I made the timing gears slip a notch. Is this possible? If I need to take the whole engine apart, I may as well get a new [straight] crankshaft, eh?

 

[ILENGINE]

did you replace the flywheel key

 

[bertsmobile1]

Crank shafts get removed then very carefully straitened either using a bending jig or a press.
Smacking it with a big hammer while still in the engine is a recipie for wrecking the engine which sounds like exactly what you have done.
Once bent & straitened, if not dead strait it will bend all by itself due to centrifugal forces and if dead strait will be substantially weakened so will bend at the slightest provication.
As your son has just proved by bending the shaft yet again.
I have seen decks with very large holes as shattered blades "exit stage right" considering just how much damage a mower blade can do you can only be considerd as an absolute fool with no regards to the safety of your son or others in the vacinity of the mower.

You have been smashing a lump of forged steel that is supported by two very soft bushes cut out of soft aluminium which must be alignment +/- 0.005" to enable the mower to run.
SO now you have gone well beyond a replacement crankshaft, it is new mower time

 

[Lyle]

you can only be considerd as an absolute fool with no regards to the safety of your son or others in the vacinity of the mower.

bertsmobile1,
A simple answer would have sufficed. The insult (full of misspellings, by the way) was not necessary, not to mention rude. Both the misspellings and the insult diminish the value of your reply. Some manners would be appreciated here.

You didn't really answer my question anyway. Is it possible I slipped a timing notch in the gears?
So, in your opinion, the mower is trashed? Well, then engine, anyway...
And, yeah, a new crankshaft is $90 so a new mower (or just engine) would be more practical.

Thanks for the safety tip, and you might consider turning on spell check or use Chrome, as it has built in spell check. See if you can work on rewording your insults into constructive criticism. That would go a lot farther in promoting proper maintenance and safety.

ILENGINE,
No I have not replaced the flywheel key. I did not remove it. Perhaps it sheared? I had a Craftsman mower that would shear those things and would almost rip my arm off when I tried to start it. I'll take a look. Thanks!

 

[Lyle]

Status update.
Flywheel key was sheared about halfway through. I got all excited that was it. But it's not. I replaced the key and pulled expecting it to rev to life, but alas it didn't. Still same symptoms. White smoke from carb, no exhaust. But it did fire for a little while, just barely running with practically no power. Did not start again though. I'm now going to tear it apart further and check the timing on the gears themselves.

 

[Rivets]

Before tearing into it I would check the oil level and spark plug. While you were attempting the repair, you may have filled crankcase with fuel and or plug the air filter. White smoke many times means an oil/fuel mixture entering the cylinder through the breather.

 

[Lyle]

Thanks, Rivets.
All was clear. I cleaned carb and put a new plug in it, even. I just finished pulling it apart and realigning the marks. I'm not sure if they were off or not, so I went ahead and lined them up anyway. Still no go, though I heard one good 'pop' of a fire and had some 'regular' smoke out of the exhaust, but still the same overall result, white smoke from the carb. I'm going to let it rest a bit because I do know I have oil all over the place since my operation. I'll clean the plug too.

 

[bertsmobile1]

bertsmobile1,
A simple answer would have sufficed. The insult (full of misspellings, by the way) was not necessary, not to mention rude. Both the misspellings and the insult diminish the value of your reply. Some manners would be appreciated here.

You didn't really answer my question anyway. Is it possible I slipped a timing notch in the gears?
So, in your opinion, the mower is trashed? Well, then engine, anyway...
And, yeah, a new crankshaft is $90 so a new mower (or just engine) would be more practical.

Thanks for the safety tip, and you might consider turning on spell check or use Chrome, as it has built in spell check. See if you can work on rewording your insults into constructive criticism. That would go a lot farther in promoting proper maintenance and safety.

When I am being paid for my professional services or publishing I do spell check.
When I am providing my services for free I don't bother.
As for you, I really do not care about your personnal safety. It appears you are hell bent on following the path you are on. Nothing I could say would cause you to reconsider your actions.
If $ 90 is more important to your than your own safety and that of your family, then that is your value judgement and you will have to live with that decision should injuries occur.
The important thing is other people who might happen across this thread after a search read it and consider the consequences of any thing they might be about do.
As a professional I am liable so bent cranks get taken out pressed clocked on V blocks then replaced if and ony if I have a written directive from the customer..

 

[Rivets]

In this case I agree 100% with Bert, that is because we are both professionals and are liable for any repairs we make. I go one step farther, if I think it might be bent, it gets replaced, if the customer says NO, I stop where I am and the customer pays for my time, even if the engine is in pieces. Safety concerns are number 1 for anyone in this business. Happy homeowner can do what he likes, but if he does it for someone else, he is liable. I doubt if you have ever seen blade or crank break, but I can tell you from personal experience, I've seen it happen more than once in the shop and every time more than one of us have had to change our shorts. Remember there is a big difference between what the pro can do in repairing a piece of equipment. Homeowner doesn't carry $5,000,000 liability insurance, with the company looking over his shoulder telling him what he can and cannot do. In this country even a signed piece of paper means very little if you end up with an accident.