Johnboy, Do you own any tools? If so, let's hope that one of those tools is a sparkplug socket. Turn the gas off at the tank and make sure that the switch used to stop the engine is in the STOP position. Remove the wire going to the sparkplug and then remove the plug. Now.... try your recoil and see if it turns over. If it does, then spin the engine over with the electric start for 30 seconds and that should blow the excess fuel out of the cylinder. Sometimes, engines will flood so badly that they will lock up due to the amount of liquid fuel in the combustion chamber. If that isn't the problem, then removing the entire pull start mechanism is often as easy as removing four small bolts that are easy to access. Once the recoil starter is removed, you can see if you have a rope problem or not. If not, then the flywheel will be exposed and you can try to move the flywheel with the right size socket on a ratchet with an extension. Try turning it both ways. If it doesn't move, then it would appear that you do have a serious problem. I take it that you have made sure that everything is disengaged and in neutral???????????

$500, Expensive? Actually it depends on the way you look at it. When we were living in Indianapolis it cost about $100 each time it snowed to clear my drive way. 5 snows and you have the cost of the snow blower. The second way of looking at it, if you are currently manually shoveling the drive, is the potential cost. If you have a medical emergency while shoveling snow, I our area the cost of transportation to the Hospital is about $130. Cost of an overnight stay in the hospital from the emergency room starts at about $5000. So looking at it this way a $500 snow blower is a bargain

I used to own a Sears 8hp track drive model that I purchased new. I owned it for 6 years. It was the biggest POS that ate belts and drive components every year. I sold it and bought an Ariens 10/32DLE over 10 years ago. It still has the original belts, never clogs on wet snow, chews thru any snow (including 4+ft drifts) and has never broken down on me. Do not think you are saving money by purchasing the sears (Poulan, Husq). Mechanically they will not hold up under heavy use. If you don't believe me, just ask any snowblower repair center what the biggest pieces of crap are. There are many good machines (Ariens, Toro, Simplicity, Honda) and even MTD which are better than the AYP snowblowers.

Most likely. Contact a Tecumseh dealer where they sell lawnmowers. Are there 11 teeth on the gear? It's possibly a Tecumseh 33844 part number.