your comment: "and had good clean oil in it when we took it apart" ========================================================= The bearing on the flywheel side is usually the first to fail when the oil quantity is almost empty. The "good clean Oil" was most probably added after the failure. Somestimes cracks develop in the engine on this type equipment due to the vibration and oil leaks out. Bushings are available to repair the damaged bearing. Look in the parts breakdown and repair manual to locate this item. There are probably few dealers who have the tools to ream the engine block to the correct size to receive the bushing. Additionally, the bushing would need reaming after installation. The crankshaft journel can usually be cleaned up. Call around to the larger, older repair dealers to see if anyone still has the tooling. Local machine shops may be helpful. Engine blocks may be hard to locate as this has been out of production for about 10 years. Used blocks may be available at the mower shop boneyards. I believe the crankshaft has a special step on the vacuums. A replacement OHV engine may be a choice if there is room on the equipment.

Had to use a gear puller to get the flywheel off - it came off just fine. The (plastic) gear on the flywheel had been chewed off - there was about 3" of mostly intact teeth on it - not enough to catch enough to spin it to start though. That was problem #1. Shopped around on Saturday looking for a ring gear. No one had one in stock. Found a local guy who had spare parts from other mowers & found a used flywheel with an aluminum ring gear on it. Cleaned it up & got ready to put onto my mower & noticed something wasn't right with the crankshaft. I hadn't noticed when I pulled the flywheel off that the centering tip on the gear puller I used had wedged itself into the top of the crankshaft. It would turn freely, but would NOT come out. After several hours yesterday of trying everything else, I was able to drill through it & eventually pop it out. Miraculously, the crankshaft threads were not ruined. After that, was able to install the flywheel with the aluminum ring gear. Also on Saturday, looking at the starter more closely, there was a "burr" on the threads of the plastic clutch, I suppose where it wasn't being released & staying engaged with the flywheel earlier. I was able to take the starter & spin it by hand and was able to make the gear stick at the top every time. I bought (another) clutch kit, this time with a metal gear & replaced it. Unlike before, this time I took steel wool to the starter shaft & shined it, then used lithium grease on it the inside of it. Put everything back together & then shot WD40 on the outside of the gear. With this, the gear returns each time, not sticking like the previous one (so far). Before my original post, I had tried to crank the mower. I turned on the fuel shut off & tried to crank it & eventually gave up. I turned the fuel off when I stopped, but wasn't able to empty what was in the carb since I couldn't get it to start. (Since I had problems earlier, I put the shut off valve in. Other than this time, I never turn the mower off - I cut the fuel off & let it run out of fuel). Once I got things back together, I tried to crank the mower. As soon as I turned the shut off valve to ON & tried to crank it (would not fire), I heard the glug-glug-glug-glug of the crankcase filling with fuel. Sure enough, oil level was about 1/2" higher than what I knew it was before trying to start it last week. I haven't rebuilt the carb, but replaced the float & needle when it had this issue the first time. This was the 3rd or 4th time this has happened. It happened the first time earlier this year when I was trying to fix it up for use after it having had sat for several years. I'm not 100% sure, but the fuel tank (gravity fed to carb) looked really empty before I put gas in it before trying to start last week. I added about 1/2 tank of gas. I use Sta-Bil in it & the stored gas which is about 3-4 weeks old now (I purposely ran it low the last time I used it). I wouldn't have run the tank dry, so I'm assuming the shut off didn't do it's thing. In reading about some of these engines (mine is a Briggs & Stratton 12.5 HP I/C Quiet, model 28m707-0178-01), I see numerous reports of the same issue. Even though I see that a complete rebuild appears to address the problem, I'm not sure how that is ever more than one failed start or not allowing the carb to run dry to reoccur. I'm sure that the ethanol is the culprit, but haven't yet found a source for "real" unleaded gasoline. Is there a reliable solution for using gas with ethanol? Also, given my most recent self-induced repair, I'm not sure I want to touch the carb.... ;-)

torque wrench types - I allus remember one true story from my "mfg days".. we were havin a serious field failure prob on of our products & after much detective work, finally traced it back to an assembly line operation where this big strong lady wus using a clicker type wrench to torque those failing fasteners. "Yeah", she said " I pull till it clicks - and then give it one more good yank just to make sure it's tight".... we quickly replaced her torque wrench with a breakaway type, showed her how to use it w/o berating her for any prior mistakes. Prob went away, everybody wus chirpy. and surely agree that bolts/studs do stretch by design when properly torqued. Hey, RC - how about hydrogen embrittlement ? :)

I would suggest getting a new blower motor on order now. It sounds like yours is going out. I can give you a contractors price on one if you know what size you need or I can cross reference if you give us a call 866-777-0074 The effect of adding to much oil is the same effect that if you add to much oil to a car. It will become sluggish, ineffecient and gummy. I am still loading all of your blower motors online so if you don't see what you need please call. Good luck aw Here is a link that might be useful: Blower Motors