Pretty confident I have a leak at my oil pan gasket near the front of the mower.
I was going to first check the torque settings on the oil pan bolts. Is it necessary to remove engine, blade clutch, etc. to access the oil pan bolts? If I have to go through all those steps - I might as well remove the pan and replace the gasket and main shaft bearing.
Any advice would be appreciated. This mower has been a good friend for many many years and I want to keep it running.
Yes and Yes
While it is out & off may as well do a proper job.
A little blue locktite will not hurt, grenn is getting excessive and even thinking of red should cause your fingers to be removed.
Isn't that mower the Masters series? You sound like you're not thoroughly convinced that the oil leak is through the pan gasket. I had 3 oil leaks in my Master series HR215 - at 1) the upper crankshaft seal, 2) the lower end of the oil fill tube, and 3) the head cover gasket. See my thread on the mylawnmowerforum.com for details. 3, above, causes oil to appear at the lower front of the engine. Maybe you won't have to remove the pan after all.
