Replace Push Mower Crankshaft?


 
Rusty James

Rusty James

TVWBB Emerald Member
This is a Honda engine (bent the shaft). I thought about looking for another mower, but I don't think Honda is making engines for non-Honda mowers anymore. I could buy a Briggs powered mower, but I think Honda engines are better (mine uses no oil).

For what it's worth, the local hardware store is having a hard time stocking gasoline push mowers. All they can find is battery-powered, electric, or reel.

I have never disassembled a small engine, but I thought about giving it a try. Anyone ever done this before? How hard was it?
 
Sorry, but your mower is junk. Lawnmower engines simply aren't worth enough to justify doing all the labor necessary to replace a bent shaft. I am not familiar with the Honda engine, but in addition to all the disassembly, you will likely need special tools and techniques to remove certain parts such as the flywheel. Rivets may also need to be drilled out.

If you want to get into small engine repair, I would suggest starting with carburetor replacement. This is a fairly simple and inexpensive repair that will bring a lot of non-running machines back into good order.
 
If you don't have any experience tearing into one of these motors I don't think a bent crankshaft is the place to start. I have a 25 yr. old Toro that I have done a lot of part replacing on but would probably stop short of any major engine work. If you want to do something somewhat challenging but doable, look at a Harbor Freight predator replacement lawnmower engine. They sell a reasonably priced Honda clone engine that may work just fine on your mower. If you would rather just get a new gas powered mower I would check out Home Depot, they offer both Honda and Toro gas powered mowers. Oh, I just thought I would mention that the engine on my 25 yr. old Toro is a Briggs and Stratton and also burns no oil!
 
Also worth pointing out that people with golf course quality yards don't generally bend their crankshafts. If you mow over rocks and roots and obstacles, I would suggest a cheap mower, or a used mower, or a "franken" mower. The other approach would be to upgrade to a bigger better mower that separates the deck from the engine via a belt drive.

I saw a disappointing YouTube video about an electric mower that had a sacrificial plastic mounting for the blade that protects the motor by shearing itself apart. It works, but the manufacturer doesn't offer replacements.
 
Rusty James said:
This is a Honda engine (bent the shaft). I thought about looking for another mower, but I don't think Honda is making engines for non-Honda mowers anymore. I could buy a Briggs powered mower, but I think Honda engines are better (mine uses no oil).

For what it's worth, the local hardware store is having a hard time stocking gasoline push mowers. All they can find is battery-powered, electric, or reel.

I have never disassembled a small engine, but I thought about giving it a try. Anyone ever done this before? How hard was it?
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Big box stores have gas mowers by the dozen.
Briggs&Stratton 4 stroke engines are just fine...BTW, Honda is exiting lawn mower production.
 
I agree, Honda engines are superior to Briggs. I would look for a used mower with a Honda engine. You can use as is, or if your current mower is in better shape than the used one, you may want to swap out the engine. Good luck
 
If it's a simple Honda motor you will find it easier and cheaper to simply run to Hazard Fraught and grab a knockoff Predator motor. They are nearly piece for piece copies of the Honda. And they're pretty good little engines. You will likely find a bolt in swap
 
I agree with Mark look for a used Honda mower at least around here at this time of year their are plenty for sale at reasonable prices. People gum carbs all the time leaving ethanol gas in the mowers then sell them when a carb new is 20.00. I gave my old Honda mower to my son-in-law put a new carb on it should run for another 10 years. The good thing about Honda mowers is you can always find parts the design does not change that much.
 
I've got a Briggs that I've had running for 10 years. It has a plastic carb that costs 20 bucks and I've changed it twice over the years. I've only ever done one oil change and changed out the air filter a few times. I might have changed the spark plug out once or twice for grins. I constantly run over sticks and branches and it's fine. How much better of a motor do you need?
 
Rusty James said:
This is a Honda engine (bent the shaft). I thought about looking for another mower, but I don't think Honda is making engines for non-Honda mowers anymore. I could buy a Briggs powered mower, but I think Honda engines are better (mine uses no oil).

For what it's worth, the local hardware store is having a hard time stocking gasoline push mowers. All they can find is battery-powered, electric, or reel.

I have never disassembled a small engine, but I thought about giving it a try. Anyone ever done this before? How hard was it?
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This will give you an idea what you're up against

 
Scott Smith said:
Also worth pointing out that people with golf course quality yards don't generally bend their crankshafts. If you mow over rocks and roots and obstacles, I would suggest a cheap mower, or a used mower, or a "franken" mower. The other approach would be to upgrade to a bigger better mower that separates the deck from the engine via a belt drive.

I saw a disappointing YouTube video about an electric mower that had a sacrificial plastic mounting for the blade that protects the motor by shearing itself apart. It works, but the manufacturer doesn't offer replacements.
Click to expand...

Good point. My yard, at one time, looked like Tarzan's jungle (before we moved in). Many roots and stumps have been removed over the years, and now I have a nice Zoysia lawn for the most part. However, the terrain is not flat, and I have to be careful around the curbing and some areas in the back yard.

In spite of all this, I only bent one shaft over the years, but I have damaged a few blades and sheared a few keys.

I saw the video about the plastic mounting on the electric mower. :(
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
I've got a Briggs that I've had running for 10 years. It has a plastic carb that costs 20 bucks and I've changed it twice over the years. I've only ever done one oil change and changed out the air filter a few times. I might have changed the spark plug out once or twice for grins. I constantly run over sticks and branches and it's fine. How much better of a motor do you need?
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Nothing against Briggs, but the newer models seem louder and vibrate more than the older models. I dusted off a 29-year old Lowe's MTD with a 5HP Briggs I/C engine for the time being, but it has no rear bagger. I almost ditched that mower after buying the model with the Honda engine. Glad I held on to it until I decide to buy new or rebuild.
 
Rusty James said:
I have a nice Zoysia lawn
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My backyard is Zoysia tuff stuff another reason to stay with the Honda Mowers. The HRX fairly newer models are now 200cc they used to be 190cc which still is plenty. If you could find a used HRX with the 190cc for a reasonable price you would be happy. Until a few years ago I used a Tru Cut reel mower in the backyard which is really what Zoysia likes to be cut with but the Honda works fine.
 
Brian B Atlanta said:
My backyard is Zoysia tuff stuff another reason to stay with the Honda Mowers. The HRX fairly newer models are now 200cc they used to be 190cc which still is plenty. If you could find a used HRX with the 190cc for a reasonable price you would be happy. Until a few years ago I used a Tru Cut reel mower in the backyard which is really what Zoysia likes to be cut with but the Honda works fine.
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Forgot to mention, I also have a Fiskars reel mower too. It works fine if you like to mow often, but it tires me out a bit.
 
Rusty James said:
Forgot to mention, I also have a Fiskars reel mower too. It works fine if you like to mow often, but it tires me out a bit.
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You are a better man than I am using a manual reel mower on Zoysia. :) Even with the Tru Cut you better mow it every 4 days maybe 5 if you stretch it otherwise if it gets to long back to the Honda to get it down where the Tru Cut can be used again. People spend big money for those reel mowers powered of course they don't understand the work required then sell them for half of what they paid. The only reason I got rid of the Tru Cut was it was getting old and the clutches were going which is a big number to replace those, I did the sharpening myself but if you can't do that off to the shop once a year and their goes 125 bucks or worse to have the blades done but with the front roller I had purchased scalping your lawn is not going to happen unlike a rotary.
 
Brian B Atlanta said:
I agree with Mark look for a used Honda mower at least around here at this time of year their are plenty for sale at reasonable prices. People gum carbs all the time leaving ethanol gas in the mowers then sell them when a carb new is 20.00. I gave my old Honda mower to my son-in-law put a new carb on it should run for another 10 years. The good thing about Honda mowers is you can always find parts the design does not change that much.
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I don't have any particular preference for any small engine brand, I think they are all fine as long as you do basic maintenance. I will just say that removing and replacing a carb on Honda engine was definitely more involved than most of the Briggs motors I've seen. The easiest carb swap I ever did was on my snowblower that has a Tecumseh Snow King 9hp.
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
I've got a Briggs that I've had running for 10 years. It has a plastic carb that costs 20 bucks and I've changed it twice over the years. I've only ever done one oil change and changed out the air filter a few times. I might have changed the spark plug out once or twice for grins. I constantly run over sticks and branches and it's fine. How much better of a motor do you need?
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How much better of a motor do you need? That's the appeal of electric for many folks - no carb, oil, air filter, or spark plugs to change.
 
For most small engines a bent crank means a possibly damaged case as well so likely not worth repairing.
My latest mower, a Toro, is Kohler powered and I really like it. If you don't like Briggs, Kohler is a great alternative, IMO.
 
Steve Hoch said:
I don't have any particular preference for any small engine brand, I think they are all fine as long as you do basic maintenance. I will just say that removing and replacing a carb on Honda engine was definitely more involved than most of the Briggs motors I've seen. The easiest carb swap I ever did was on my snowblower that has a Tecumseh Snow King 9hp.
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On the newer Honda models that is no longer the case in regards to the carbs. I totally admit their earlier designs which I have replaced carbs on was totally stupid as they had bolts that screwed into the engine block so kind of had to thread the the bolts thru the air cleaner the gaskets it was a mess. Now that is not the case they went to studs with nuts on the end meaning all you need to do is from the air cleaner is unscrew those nuts then pull the carb so no more do you have to be guiding bolts into the block if you know what I mean.

Personally and I have been guilty of this in the past but not for the last 5 years as I would leave some gas in the mower over the winter forget to add stabilizer and you burn a carb, have rebuilt a few but for the price of a new one its not worth it anymore. I only use non-ethanol gas now if you leave some gas in it for the winter and mine is in a garage there are no worries.

I think Briggs IMO has probably come a long way in the last 20 years since I have owned anything that was powered by them they were horrible engines notorius for being hard starting and weak on power. Honda came onto the scene with the overhead cam engines and pretty much took over the market for high end lawnmowers, pressure washers, aerators, generators or whatever. To this day whether its a reel mower, a cheaper pressure washer or whatever the low end is Briggs you pay up for the Honda motor.

Where I live in the south the landscaping business is a really big business I can't say I have seen many landscapers with push mowers using anything but Honda mowers. The ride mowers maybe be different but I pay a guy to do my front yard which is Bermuda and he either does it with self propelled mower or he is not going to do it at all those ride mowers with the wide decks do a crappy job on Bermuda besides the scalping your going to get on a wide deck. I get if you got acreage and you need to get the job done and not spend hours on mowing the lawn.
 
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