On Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:45:57 -0700, "James H."
wrote:

I tried a three-pronged 8-inch gear puller, which is, as you
noted, something that grabs the sides of the aluminum flywheel; but after
seeing the flywheel actually bend upward, I gave up on that method also as
too dangerous. It would have cracked the flywheel in half.

Replace the flywheel now. Dangerous? Wait until it fly's apart and
hurts. Caused by fracture in cracks.

Never pull a mower flywheel without the tool, or without hitting the
crank.

Outside "hooks" will crack the flywheel. The reason your flywheel
bent!

Learn some tradition, I say.