Sunday, July 29, 2018

The day dawned, as it is wont to do, with the rising of the sun. A clear blue sky overlooked the estate. The day promised heat, and lots of it. I didn't have time to admire the azure canvas over head; I couldn't do anything about the promised heat; it wasn't my concern: I had a date with Destiny, and I was hoping that she would be wearing a clinging pastel number with some lacy frills. I was kidding myself; this was no date--it was a showdown. I was going mano a mano with the Craftsman war machine. I planned to tear into it without mercy, to strip its power source from its corpse, crack open that box of mechanical brain-works, and perform some compliance surgery on that metal crate before reattaching and reanimating the creature to do my bidding.

With might, power, and high hopes, I confronted the beast. I didn't give it a chance to talk. I had it jacked up and on the stands before it could even say, "Jack Robinson." Come to think of it, I've never heard it utter that phrase; it's a particularly difficult iteration for most mowing machines. The videos that I had watched indicated that the engine could be removed in about one half an hour. It was held to the frame by four bolts. Of course some other wires and assorted connections like the fuel line, a mystery hose, and the throttle cables had to be detached as well, but the four bolts, and the pulley below the frame were the primary obstacles.

When I set the wrench to the first bolt to begin the struggle in earnest, the mower struck back.
The end of the wrench snapped off as soon as I applied pressure. Round 1 to the mower. It was comparable to Napoleon falling from his horse at start of the invasion of Russia--not a good omen.

The half-hour engine removal took me two hours and included a trip to town for a particular socket and an angled section. The two front bolts resisted, but they were overcome. The two back bolts were more difficult to persuade. So the mower effectively delayed, but I won that round. In my defense, I don't have the fancy rotary tools the video guys used to zip the bolts out in a flash (refer to broken wrench above for the quality of my resources).



It looked rather pathetic with the engine removed. Some people have noted difficulty in removing the pulley beneath the mower; once I removed the bolt holding it to the engine, it practically fell off--no pounding was necessary.
Out of the mower and on the concrete, and then on the operating table. It was at this point that I began to congratulate myself on having completed the removal of the engine without the customary blood sacrifice to appease the gods of gasoline powered things. I began to think that I would complete the task sans such sacrificial exsanguination. 

"Hold on to your hemorrhage, Batman!" The mechanical ones demanded obeisance. My very next move resulted in the first incision of the operation. While attempting to loosen one of the bolts that held the oil pan to the engine, I ran the knuckle of my little finger across the head of another bolt. I noted that it hurt, but didn't realize that the bloodletting had begun until I saw the crimson drop upon the plate. My wife had a band-aid ready. Apparently, she remembered the process.
The operation proceeded without much else of note happening. The pictures below show the innards of the beast.


You might note that I had not drained the oil prior to beginning the surgery. For future reference, I recommend draining the oil first. I think that I managed to get oil on most of the exterior surface of the engine, as well as all over the work table and the floor. It spilled my blood; I spilled its blood. 

The camshaft is the larger wheel with all of the teeth. Below, one can see the old, damaged shaft on the right, and the new shaft on the left. 

One might notice that the mechanism on the left that sits against the center of the toothed wheel is missing from the shaft on the right. The missing piece (broken pieces), the ACR (something compression release mechanism), can be seen behind the two shafts. There is a close up of the pieces below.

 These were in the bottom of the pan. It is a fine testament to the quality of this product that this part fails so frequently--it ought to be a free part and repair. Some videos explain exactly how the part functions. Having watched those videos, I still don't pretend to understand it. Like Sgt. Oddball from Kelly's Heroes, "I only ride'em. I don't know what makes 'em work."

 One very important detail that I'm glad was noted in one of the videos was that the timing marks, the divot on the camshaft and the other shaft (crankshaft?), must be aligned in order to remove the camshaft; naturally, the new camshaft must also be so aligned for installation.


The most difficult part of the procedure was removing the old gasket. The rest wasn't too difficult. I made significantly better time in reattaching the engine to the carcass that I had in the removal.

Next time: What fruits do these labors bear?

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