I have been soaking the crank/pulley for two days and it will not move at all. Still as tight as when I started, but I ain't giving up yet. I am in no hurry and will be away thru the weekend, so I think I will let it soak till Tuesday. If it won't move then I will drill holes in the pulley and put my puller on it and see if I can pull it that way.

Possum, I don't think I can drive it in any further. There is a spacer between the pulley and the bottom of the engine so there is no way to drive it down further. Also, the pulley extends up beyond the end of the crank, forming a little well that I can fill with PB Blaster (yes, I did find some locally) so there is no way to drive it on and clean the end of the shaft. Thanks for the suggestion, I wish it would work.

I'll get this thing yet.

Hang in there, we're here to provide encouragement.

Best thing to use is heat. get you a small propane tourch and get it hot. Use your hammers to tap the sides and keep a small amount of tension on the puller and it will come right off.

If the pulley is rusted in place the only thing I would say is heat. Most of the pulleys are made of just light duty steel and will bend very easy. So that would rule out a puller useless you can pull on the hub. Yes heat will do damage to the seal but as I recall that isn't very hard to change that seal. I have never come across a engine pulley myself that wouldn't come off with a good socking of penetrating oil and some hammering on the hub. But I don't know how bad your is rusted. But I have come across some things that are rusted so bad I have had to cut them out with a torch or cut off wheel.

I sure hope it doesn't come down to cutting it off. I'd ruin something for sure. The thought of putting the puller on it is worrisome enough and I hope I don't have to heat it because I don't want to ruin the seal or the crank itself. We'll see. In the meantime, I keep spraying it with PB Blaster and tapping away at it. Will see what next week brings.

I do appreciate your suggestions so keep them coming. It has to come off, and maybe after soaking a little gentle heat might help.

Couldn't you make your own puller? I don't know what your PTO looks like but if it has any hub that extends down you could make a steel clamp and use a steering wheel style puller. You need to spend some time studying how the pulley is made.

Its going depend on what you heat it with. Acetylene torch with a rose bud might be way too hot but a propane torch will know way it be too hot to do any damage but might be enough heat to loosen it. Yes for sure use heat as a last resort. It just depends how rusty things get in the mowers environment.

Suspend the engine over night by the pulley an inch or so above something valuable ( the wife's diamond maybe ) and it will probably be loose by morning.