Found Junked HRR2163VXA Starts, Runs, but Shakes Badly

[Dindu_Nuffins]

Someone dumped a load of trash in a vacant lot by my house. Looks like someone's tenant was evicted and the landlord hauled off his stuff and (illegally) dumped it. I've picked a few good things out, the best of which is a Honda lawnmower. Today I fixed the starter. The end of the spring broke, so I bent the end, lubricated it, adjusted spring tension, etc... and it works fine now.

Reattached starter and the mower started on the 1st pull! (The Good News)

The Bad News is that while running it was REALLY rough. It did that "run-up, run-down" thing I hear mowers do where it's like someone is making the engine go fast, slow, fast, slow. I can post a video if anyone wants. But worst, the engine shakes terrible, to much shaking to simply be (in my opinion) a problem with a rough-running engine. Like there is a weight that is missing or something. It shakes a LOT. Imagine the worst shaking engine you've ever seen and this is twice as bad. Like there is something mechanically off-balance somewhere.

The blades are not spinning. I have the clutch disconnected because the roto-handle thing is broken. I've done some reading and that's common and a new handle will be $34, but I want to make certain the rest of the mower is good before spending money. Point is that, whatever it is that is "off balance" on the mower, it's not the blades because they aren't spinning. I checked and looked.

At idle the shaking is reduced quite a bit, but still is too extreme to be normal. Does anyone have any ideas on what could be causing all this shaking?

 

[RDA.Lawns]

Sounds like a flywheel weight or maybe a bent crank.

 

[Dindu_Nuffins]

Sounds like a flywheel weight or maybe a bent crank.

After I posted this I did some searching and found several threads and YouTube vids about Honda lawn mowers with bent crank shafts, so I went outside, tipped it sideways about 45 degrees, slowly pulled the starter rope and could clearly see a wobble in the crankshaft. The whole clutch assemble is wobbling around with it.


So now I want to know how big of a job is it to replace a bent crank shaft and if there could be something else beside the crank shaft that could be bent. Think I found a exploded diagram of this mower yesterday, so I'll take a look at all the parts involved. Main question is, if crank shaft is bent, does that mean it's a waste of time to mess with it?

 

[RDA.Lawns]

You said it needs other parts too plus the cost of crank gaskets oil time assuming you don't find more wrong when tore down. I'd toss it and move on.

 

[Dindu_Nuffins]

You said it needs other parts too plus the cost of crank gaskets oil time assuming you don't find more wrong when tore down. I'd toss it and move on.

I'm asking if the crank shaft replacement alone means it's not worth doing.

 

[RDA.Lawns]

To me yes it would. But others such as Bert's Mobil may have a different take on it.

 

[RDA.Lawns]

You wouldn't get to replace just the crank. Your that deep replace rob bearings if the rod is ok .

 

[dana a]

The first thing I would do is take the crankshaft out and see where it is bent. If it's bent up inside the crankcase then the bushing in the bottom is probably wallowed out some and will most likely get worse as time goes by with the new crankshaft. If it's bent out side of the crankcase I would then price the crankshaft and if it was reasonable I'd fix it. If not put it back in the trash pile or you could keep it and hope to find another engine. If it's a good deck any engine will work.

 

[Dindu_Nuffins]

The first thing I would do is take the crankshaft out and see where it is bent. If it's bent up inside the crankcase then the bushing in the bottom is probably wallowed out some and will most likely get worse as time goes by with the new crankshaft. If it's bent out side of the crankcase I would then price the crankshaft and if it was reasonable I'd fix it. If not put it back in the trash pile or you could keep it and hope to find another engine. If it's a good deck any engine will work.

Thanks they sell these cranks on ebay for $30. I haven't been this deep in an engine since high school, 30 years ago.
and the engine splits diagonal which is weird. Do I have to buy new gaskets, etc... just for opening the engine?

 

[dana a]

I have never been in a Honda before but I've been in about everything else and I have never bought any gaskets. I try to take them apart very carefully so as not to tear the gasket. I'm sure others would say get gaskets. I saved a bunch of cereal boxes to use to make gaskets also. I suppose you could use silicone too. I used it on the oil pans on a Cummins diesel and 6.2 Chevy diesel and they didn't leak. I made a head gasket out of cardboard once to see if an engine would run and it worked. Probably after a while it would have burned.