shaft

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Topic :I bent my lawnmower's shaft. What are my options? It depends on the kind of mower and the motor size. Straightening is out of the question. You could possibly buy a new shaft and piston rod for about $100 most motors. I would look at picking up a used motor to replace the old one with. I pick up motors all the time for $25-50 in like-new condition. A brand new one will run $100-200. I would forget about repair and start looking for another motor...or a whole new mower. A motor is easy to change. Just 4 bolts on the bottom.
How old is the motor? How much use has it seen? It may simply be at the end of it's life and be lacking compression enough to make it run right. Have you adjusted the screw (s) on the carb at all? 1/4 turn in either direction sometimes does the trick. The other thing I would try is a good carb cleaning, and gasket replacement. 3.5 B&S motors have come with about 10 different style carbs over the years, and I don't know which one you have, but I can tell you that normally a full carb gasket set runs about $10.

PART 2
Thanks for the info concerning that mower and what to do concerning a bent shaft. You mentioned that you pick up like-new motors for fairly cheap. Where do you usually find them? Do you mean finding them at garage sales or where? Thanks for your speedy response. I also went to your sponsor's site too and will be going back to it through your site for more looking.
Exactly what kind of motor is on the mower? If it's a common one and the mower is worth salvaging you may even think about going to Wal-mart or Home Depot and picking up one of their $89 specials. You get a brand new motor and a not-so-good deck. Transfer the motor to your deck and your good to go. As for used motors, every town or city has the little mom & pop small engine repair place that has 20-30 mowers sitting along the side of the building. They'll usually let them go for $20-40 each. Just be careful of what you're buying. Garage sales are also a good place to go. Here's another example: right now I have about 5, 2 year old Techumsa 3-4 hp motors...A major seller had a problem a few years back with their mower decks rotting out prematurely...hence the market is flooded with motors that are near mint condition from them. Make a few calls, or stop in to some of the local shops.