Hit a rock!

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blendmik

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• Jul 27, 2019 / Hit a rock!

• #1

I hit a large rock that bent the blade and put a tear in the shroud of my Craftsman Bob Villa self propelled.
When I tried starting it, it sputtered and smoke pours out of the exhaust. Any ideas ? Thanks

 

Scrubcadet10

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• Jul 27, 2019 / Hit a rock!

• #2

Probably sheared the flywheel key which aligns the crank to the flywheel for proper timing.
Not sure about the smoke though....
Post some pics of the damage if you can, along with Engine model number

 

Fish

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• Jul 27, 2019 / Hit a rock!

• #3

The smoke is likely from when you turned the mower up and looked for damage, take off the air filter and make sure it is not oil fouled.

 

R

Romore

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• Jul 27, 2019 / Hit a rock!

• #4

Tip the mower with the air filter on the high side to prevent that. With the spark plug disconnected and the bail tied down rotate the blade and and watch for a wobble indicating a bent shaft. The mower may not be worth fixing if this is the case.

 

B

bertsmobile1

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• Jul 27, 2019 / Hit a rock!

• #5

Romore said:

Tip the mower with the air filter on the high side to prevent that. With the spark plug disconnected and the bail tied down rotate the blade and and watch for a wobble indicating a bent shaft. The mower may not be worth fixing if this is the case.

Click to expand...

Mowers should always be tipped head side up.
As just about all US made mowers mount the engine front - back , head forward then the best way to tip them is handlebar down
A lot of them will actually sit on the catcher flap quite happily depending upon where the bars hinge.