My 48 in Craftsman Riding mower with a Kohler 25 hp engine locked up

48" craftsman Riding mower. I have a 48 ' Craftsman Riding mower. I have had the mower for 4 years with app 450 hrs on the 25 hp Courage engine. The last cut I did with it , I slowed it down to back up and the engine died! Locked up ! It was a hot day and I had about 2 or 3 hrs of running time on it that day. That's usual for my cutting my large lawn. Towed it back to my garage and still locked up. Had about 25 hrs running time on the oil and it was still full. I pulled the engine and dropped the crankcase bottom off and it looks perfect inside but the crank is locked up. The rods still move on their journals and the cylinders look fine for what I can see. I`m guessing the upper main is where the lock up is. I have not yet pulled the heads off and the pistons out. If in fact I can get the crank out , is it possible to recon the the upper main journal and recon the block opening for the crank journal? Hate to junk this engine ,but what caused the failure. Has anyone run into this problem. I did have a Sears tech look at it and he said he has had a few that did lock up , and said the customer used a breaker bar and a socket to try to break the seize up on it and it worked and ran! I tried but no success. Should I look at something else on it. The crank will not budge either way but there is slack in the rods so I`m pretty convinced the crank is seized. All info much appreciated. Russ
Reply to
Russ in the Ozarks
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Can we assume that removing the spark plug did not change anything ie: engine is still locked with the spark plug removed?

Reply to
Arnie Goetchius

What make engine. How many HP.

I'm sure whatever's broken can be fixed, but I'd take the head off and see if you can find what is broken.

failure. Has anyone run into this problem. I did have a Sears tech look at

Five lines up you thought the upper main is where the lockup is.

Reply to
Micky

Russ , depending on where in the Ozarks you are , I may be able to help you . If you're anywhere near Stone County Arkansas , email me . My reply-to is good and I have a small machine shop .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

I don't show a Reply-to header for you. What do you think that means?

Using Agent v.6, eternal-september.

Reply to
Micky

Years ago, I had a rider mower become very hard to turn, I could barely move it with the pull rope, and the electric starter would not budge it. It had a smaller Briggs engine. I think it was a 12HP. Anyhow, I took off the top and found the generator assembly which (I cant remember if it was under or on top of the flywheel), but it had come apart and was wedged against either the crankshaft or the flywheel. It's been years, so I cant quite recall all the details, but once I removed that generator, the engine spun fine. So the problem was not inside the engine at all. Pull off the cover and check to make sure nothing is jammed on top or under the flywheel. It might not be indide the engine at all.

Reply to
Paintedcow

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