Craftsman lawnmower opinions?
 

On Thu, 24 Nov 2005 17:45:22 GMT, John Crichton
wrote:
My Honda is the smoothest running mower I have ever owned. Mine is a
Honda mower (with a Honda Engine of course) and it is very quiet and has
less vibration than any other mower I've ever used. It is very possible
that the motor is not the source of the vibration. An unbalanced blade
will vibrate like hell. Take your blades off and sharpen and balance
them or take them to a mower service place that can do it for you.

The first time I took it back to Sears for the excessive vibration
problem, they supposedly replaced the blade. That made it even worse.

It's unclear to me if they really did anything the second time I took
it back. The repair order says that they *balanced* the blade. The
vibration remained unchanged.

Most folks are speculating that the real problem is a bent or
otherwise defective crankshaft, or possibly a bearing problem, but I
suppose it is possible that their blade balancing efforts were faulty.

I am planning to take it back to a different Sears store this weekend.

Jake

Craftsman lawnmower opinions?
 

It does sound like it could be a bent crank. It doesn't take much.
I bought my Mother a 5 horse mower ( don't remember the brand) and
operated it at just a medium speed. I hit a small something that didn't
damage the blade at all but it was sufficient to bend the crank.

I second a bent crank, All you need to do is remove the spark plug and have somebody put the handle on the ground and pull the rope while you watch the blade bolt for any wobble.

Craftsman lawnmower opinions?
 

On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 02:29:33 +0000, restrorob
wrote:
I second a bent crank, All you need to do is remove the spark plug and
have somebody put the handle on the ground and pull the rope while you
watch the blade bolt for any wobble.

Yeah, good point. I should try that approach before taking it back
again. I tried judging by the blade height itself (i.e., distance up
to the housing) over all 360 degrees turned manually, but I couldn't
really tell. It wasn't much different than my other (LawnBoy) lawn
mower, which doesn't vibrate at all.

Jake