I am a landlord and tenants leave the darndest stuff behind. One thing I got was a RER snapper. I also got a 6 horsepower Troy built mulcher/side discharge. Really what you need is a high horsepower side discharge to mow those yards that have gotten too tall --and the Troybuillt fit the bill. This mower has an extension on the shaft that really adds to the length,and when I hit a fist sized rock buried in the tall grass, the runout was huge at a little over a quarter inch.
No way am I gonna buy new parts like a driveshaft and try to save this thing. Just easier to buy a clone Honda engine for 80 bucks---- unless............ So I go on U-tube and look at the various straighten crankshaft videos,and am not impressed with pretty much 'doing it by eye' methods that they use.
First,I took took the time to properly lay the mower on its side and solidly block it in a stable position with blocks under the side of the engine. took out the spark plug to make it easy to rotate Then I used some concrete blocks to build a solid base ....and then a cantilever sort of extension like a diving board that came about an inch or so under the bent crank. The board was easily removed and re-fit so as to make it easy to strike and straighten the shaft in stages.
At first,it was easy to see where the crank was high. I slipped a pipe over the crank to protect it ,but much of the striking force was spent in deforming the pipe. I then used a socket from my junk toolbox,and then started making progress. To get the last fine adjustment,it would be easy to use a dial caliper by using the little slide or depth gage at the end,but I wound up using sockets of various diameters rolled between the cantilever board and the crank. Find the tight spot,rotate 90 degrees,and strike from the top. For more precision,one could use drill bits instead of sockets,I suppose.
Anyway,I got the shake out of the crankshaft and the mower works fine. It was worth an hour of my time. Had I failed,at least it would have been a learning experience.The bonus is that I can always keep a cheap or free mower at various rental properties and take a motorcycle ride instead of hauling mowers with the truck.
If this post could use some visual aids,just google the U-tube stuff on bent crankshafts and use the information here to improve the method
Hope this helps someone.
No way am I gonna buy new parts like a driveshaft and try to save this thing. Just easier to buy a clone Honda engine for 80 bucks---- unless............ So I go on U-tube and look at the various straighten crankshaft videos,and am not impressed with pretty much 'doing it by eye' methods that they use.
First,I took took the time to properly lay the mower on its side and solidly block it in a stable position with blocks under the side of the engine. took out the spark plug to make it easy to rotate Then I used some concrete blocks to build a solid base ....and then a cantilever sort of extension like a diving board that came about an inch or so under the bent crank. The board was easily removed and re-fit so as to make it easy to strike and straighten the shaft in stages.
At first,it was easy to see where the crank was high. I slipped a pipe over the crank to protect it ,but much of the striking force was spent in deforming the pipe. I then used a socket from my junk toolbox,and then started making progress. To get the last fine adjustment,it would be easy to use a dial caliper by using the little slide or depth gage at the end,but I wound up using sockets of various diameters rolled between the cantilever board and the crank. Find the tight spot,rotate 90 degrees,and strike from the top. For more precision,one could use drill bits instead of sockets,I suppose.
Anyway,I got the shake out of the crankshaft and the mower works fine. It was worth an hour of my time. Had I failed,at least it would have been a learning experience.The bonus is that I can always keep a cheap or free mower at various rental properties and take a motorcycle ride instead of hauling mowers with the truck.
If this post could use some visual aids,just google the U-tube stuff on bent crankshafts and use the information here to improve the method
Hope this helps someone.