I was mowing a neighbors yard and didnt see the sewage cleanout pipe, I struck the pipe and the lawn mower died instantly. I try to restart it but when I try to pull the cord it is stuck. I flipped the mower over and I can turn the blade it is not easy but it moves. Is the motor seized or is there a way to fix it. Thanks.
Eddie
I'd say your mower's got a bad case of bent crankshaftitist.
It's fixable, but a new engine (or mower) may be in order, unless you're good at doing things like engine work yourself.
Hired labor to do a job like that will knock you in the pocketbook worse than you knocked your neighbor's cleanout pipe.
Jeff
I would suspect you've broken the key at the top of the shaft. It is designed to do precisely what it did...break when the blade(s) strike something. It's a pretty simple fix. Remove the cover holding the starter cord. Before you lift off the cover, slip your hand under the cover and keep the tension on the belt spring. That will keep you from having to rewind the belt manually before you reinstall the cover. Lock a vise grip on the pulley to keep the spring from unloading. On the top of the shaft you should see a slot that contains a small key, it'll be about 1/2 inch long and 1/8 inch wide. It's probably cut in half. Realign the key slot, remove the broken key pieces and replace it with a new one. Replace the cover and test the pull cord. If it turns easily, you should be in business. Hope that solves your problem.
Regards...Bob
Bob, that might be so, _if_ the engined turned over normally, but just wouldn't fire. Reread OP's description about hard to turn over. Sure sounds like broken/bent crank to me. (With resultant stress on case, etc.)
TTFN, J
I thought about a sheared key at first, but after a little more thinking I couldn't come up any way that would affect the performance of a typical recoil starter so that you couldn't turn the engine over with a normal amount of force on the starter cord handle
So, I'll stick my neck out and say urinalysis is wrong unless you can better explain how a sheared key, which only really affects the ignition timing, will do anything to cause the starter cord to "stick", which is waht the OP stated
If anything, if the key sheared and the flywheel nut was a little loose, the flywheel might just rotate free of the crankshaft and make the cord feel "easier" to pull.
I don't think the key is "designed" to break off and "save" something, I think it just "does", because it can't resist the stored energy in the spinning flywheel when the engine shaft is suddenly stopped.
I still say his engine may well have a sheared flywheel key, but that ain't all.
Jeff
I have always believed and will continue too; that the key was "designed" to "save something". When it breaks, the flywheel slips and is off time..engine shuts down. This saves the serious possibility of a bent crank shaft. If the shaft and flywheel were rigid and did not slip (broke key) I think the engine would run enough for serious damage as long as you are cutting the pipes next door.
-- Oren
"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."
The key is aluminum so it will shear easily. Engines that do not have this protective feature have a steel key. In depth manual I had (awhile back) warned against replacing the aluminum key with a steel one.
Side note- if the key shears and the flywheel just moves a little, the engine may turn over normally but then 'stop' or even kick back a little when the spark fires too early. Just cured my rider of this (and would that it were the only problem...)
Dave
Soft metal keys, just like the "shear pin" for your outboard motor "prop". An electric motor with a pulley as I know has a Hard metal key.
Knocks off the timing...
-- Oren
"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."
When my dad died, I put in a few days clearing customer machines in his shop. Put together a rototiller and fired it up as the last job in the afternoon. Went back the next morning and couldn't get a 'pop' out of it. Finally pulled the flywheel and found that the key had not sheared fully but had a 1/2 thickness offset in it now.
Harry K
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