Bob Engelhardt wrote:

jim wrote:

What he was describing was the ignition timing being advanced so that it
causes kick-back and that is what would shear the key. ...

OK, that makes sense. I was thinking that the points themselves caused
it & I was having a hard time seeing how that could be.

Thanks,
Bob

If this thing is designed to have a large inertial mass attached on the
other end of the crank then that could be aggravating the kick back
also. But usually a horizontal 5hp would just have a small pulley to
drive a belt.

-jim