Craftsman lawn mower has bent crank shaft

[gbravy]

I will not comment on any 'moral' issues here, but this is excellent advice when trying to repair almost anything, be it DIY or having it done by someone else.

[Tony Kimmell]

I must be missing somthing here... I've never seen a Craftsman mower with anything but a Tecumseh engine on it. Are you SURE it's a Briggs?

I haven't looked at Craftsman power equiptment for a while, so I may well be wrong. It would be wonderful if they started using Briggs enignes, as that is one of the major reasons that their stuff sucks...

Tony

[Bruce]

Yes, the primary motors are all Briggs and Stratton. They also sell some with Hondo motors in them.

[Chip Stein]

very common with briggs. unfortunately sears orders special engines for their equipment, the briggs shafts bend just as easy. i've got three pieces of a briggs crank sitting on a shelf. poor guy hit a brick with the mower and the crank broke in 3 pieces. it just depends on how it was hit. i used to work on 20 year old techumsehs all day long. trust me all engines are going to shit. even the honda consumer models. Chip

[Ma'am]

replying to Henry77, Ma'am wrote: Sears will blame the owner and not look the other way. My Craftsman self-propelled blew up and I was blamed. I was simply pushing it uphill. I inspected the area at the time of the explosion...Nothing! Still, I was told I hit something and bent the crankshaft. Must be the go-to excuse for nonrepair.

[Clare Snyder]

Crankshafts do NOT bend themselves. If the crank bent, someone hit something. There is NO other explanation.

You MIGHT have a crank BREAK wthout hitting something - due to something like a HUGE inbalance causing stress buildup - but it takes a large diect force to bend a steel crankshaft.