Thanks for the response Robert and Mark, its much appreciated. I inherited this mower approx. 8 yrs ago from a neighbor who had to move back into his in laws house and his storage unit was full and he asked me if I could store it for him and I could use it anytime, and he'd pick it up when he could, which never happened. I'd say out of the 8yrs I've had it, it sat unused for the last 5-6 yrs due to me having 2 back surgeries. Now I'm feeling better, I'm looking forward to doing my own yard work again, its kind of theraputic for me. So earlier this week I tried to start it, with no luck. So I changed the plug, air filter, and broke down the carb and cleaned it all up, then she fired right up on the 3rd it 4th pull and it runs like a champ again. Also, I've never had the manual for it. So now today, I tried to torque the center bolt to 40 ft. lbs. as I seen in a diagram provided on this site, now more bad news, apparently I must have stripped out the threads when cranking the bolt with my impact, because now it won't even tighten up. I'm going to try to use a couple washers for now (a temp fix) and hopefully it will tighten up on good threads not so deep into the shaft. Also, it starts so much easier with the blade handle pushed forward (engaged) and blades turning, than it does disengaged. When disengaged, it feels like its under a load when pulling the starter rope. Never had any problem with anything with this mower until the accidental removal of the blade clutch assembly. Sorry for being long winded, and all feedback is very much appreciated. Have a great weekend you all.
