Remove the spark plug. See if you can turn the engine with the
blade, you have much more leverage there. Make sure you do have
the engine stop disengaged. If the motor is locked up at this
point, it may have a broken crank or threw the rod or its cap.
Time to get another.

--
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Door" wrote in message
...
I have a Ariens mower with a Briggs & Stratton Intek mower. It
appears that the crankshaft will not turn. Here is what
happened and
what I know so far.

I took out the mower for the first time this season. Usually
the
mower takes 2 or 3 pulls to start. After the 2nd pull I
realized that
my allergies and headache had the better of me and I was not
pulling
the rope very hard. So I tried again. The rope came out as
usual,
the engine didn't start, and the rope went back in. So I
grapped it
again and when I pulled I found that the rope would not come
out.
Turns out it won't budge.

I assumed that the rewind starter had somehow gotten fouled up
since I
think in trying to pull hard I pulled too far and the rope
handle flew
out of my hand.

Turns out the rewind starter is just fine. I removed it and it
seems
ok. So, I held the bail brake and tried turning the flywheel
(both
with the plug in and with it out) and it won't turn. Next I
checked
that the flywheel brake was actually disengaging. It appears to
work
fine. When the bail brake is held, the flywheel brake
disengages.
However the flywheel will not turn. I still have the flywheel
cup and
nut attached, so I am assuming that the crankshaft is not
turning for
some reason.

I am very new to engine repairs. So, I could be missing
something
basic here. The part that has me really curious is how could
the
crankshaft get stuck from just pulling the rewind cord. Note
that the
mower previously was working fine and in the first few attempts
at
starting, the cord pulled normally. Since I was not feeling
well, I
know it is impossible that I pulled the cord extremely hard. So
it
doesn't seem that I could have bent the crankshaft.

Anyone have any suggestions as to what the problem could be?

Thanks,
Door