My lawn mower's blade is freespinning, how can I fix this?
I was working on heavy grass (i swear, its like a jungle in my backyard). Everything was going fine, then I heard a "chunking" noise and continued to mow a few more feet. When I looked back at what I had previously mowed, I found that the grass had just been pushed down, and not cut at all. Now I can't get the mower to start, and the blade is free-spinning. Ive tried WD-40, Ive tried tighenting the nut on the blade, but it just spins the axle. Now I'm stuck with a yard that looks like a bunch of half-done crop circles! Anyone have an idea on how to fix this?
It sounds like you have a couple problems. You might need to narrow them down. First you blade is free spinning and second you engine won't start on your mower. You need to seperate the two. The cause sounds like you may have hit something. The fix may be to take the belt off from the deck to the engine to separate that load from the engine. It sounds like you nay have a bent crankshaft, but not definitely. By separating the engine load of running the deck you may be able to start the engine. If not you might want to check the bottom pulley, or clutch if it has one to see if something is broken there. If the engine starts you have focused the problem soley to the deck.
On the deck you need to check out the spindle. Take the blade off and check to see if the blade is notched. Some blades are notched with a star pattern or x pattern that fits on to the pulley exact. If that is off it may spin between the nut and bottom of the spindle shaft. Once you have checked that you might want to check the top of the deck. When u spin the blade watch the top of the spindle and see if the pulley is spinning simultaneously with the blade. Then check your belt and see if it is intact and still installed completely. These are just some ideas, I hope they help. Tech Service needlawnmowerparts.com
