On Mon, 12 Jul 2010 09:55:16 -0400, Stormin Mormon wrote:

Yes, the crank shaft goes down.
I wonder WHERE it goes as there is nowhere "down" to go.

One end of the crankshaft is sticking up in the air with the nut loosly put
back on (to protect the threads) while the other end is firmly attached to
the lawn mower blade. The piston is in the middle.

Where "down" can it go?

You only have to bump the crankshaft down 1/8 inch or less

That's a LOT of distance for an immovable flywheel. Do you bump it back UP
1/8th of an inch when you reassemble?

I rather doubt that anyone has advised to bang down
on the flywheel.

I agree. What everyone said (and what utterly failed for me) was to pry UP
on the flywheel and bang DOWN on the crankshaft.

What worked (for me) was to tap the pre-existing holes and lift up on the
flywheel leveraging on the center of the crankshaft with a harmonic
balancer puller with two 1/4 x 20 bolts and washers (that bent like potato
chips from the force).