wrote in message
...
On Jul 12, 12:19 am, "James H."
wrote:
But, since so many people have said to bang DOWN on the
flywheel ... may I
ask what is the logic in that?

For the answer to this, you only need to look at Newton's laws
of
motion.

Newton's first law, an object at rest will tend to stay at
rest...
applies to the flywheel. When you smack the crankshaft, the
flywheel
will want to tend to stay in place, while the rest of the lawn
mower
will go in the direction of your hit.

You are basically knocking the mower out from under the
flywheel. Why?
You can't hit the flywheel to knock it off the mower so this is
your
only choice.

As for breaking the intake manifold, that's your fault. You
should've
looked before prying. Pry on something that isn't the intake
manifold.

The tapping also seems to aid the penetration of oil into the
joint, I feel. A flywheel puller is a much safer choice, since
the banging on the crankshaft also places large lateral loads on
the bearings of the engine. Rather than whack with a 3# hand
sledge, I prefer a 22oz ball peen hammer and some penetrating oil
to see if I can get things moving.

Also when tapping on the shaft, I always run the nut up until it's
flush- to just a bit proud- of the shaft end. That helps to keep
the shaft end from swelling or messing up the threads, I feel.

My friend had a wood chipper with a very sturdy, steel, pulley on
the output shaft of his engine. The pulley had to be removed to
do some other work on the engine. I had my flywheel puller on and
tightened about as good as I felt reasonable. I also did the
penetrating oil and tapping on the shaft (via the puller's bolt)
to no avail. Enough was enough.

My friend and I used our Mapp gas torches to heat the pulley for a
few minutes while we dripped some water onto the motor's shaft. I
tapped the end of the shaft lightly, and the pulley came right
off. I doubt if you can do this with a flywheel, but it sure
works with substantial metal stuck to a shaft.

Nonny

--
On most days,
it's just not worth
the effort of chewing
through the restraints..