I have a lawn mower I picked up on the side of the road for free. Looks like its almost brand new and they said it ran but I’m afraid to start it with no blade installed. Could it possibly damage the engine if I did?
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September 14th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
You can start it to see if it runs, but don’t run it long without a blade. It may overspeed but I would be more concerned about the crankshaft balance provided by the blade. The blade acts as a harmonic balancer when it is installed.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Hmm, no, you probably can’t hurt it. You probably won’t be able to get it running at all. The flywheel on push mowers is just aluminum, they use the blade to provide the inertia to keep the motor spinning on the compression stroke. An engine that is designed to run no-load will have a cast iron flywheel, to provide inertia.
September 14th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
yes, it will. The engine is balanced with the blade on it. IF you run without the blade, the engine will (could) vibrate itself to pieces.
September 14th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
You can run it without a blade. What would damage a engine is a blade that is badly off balance.
September 15th, 2009 at 12:00 am
you need a blade on it to start. the blade is the balance for the engine
September 15th, 2009 at 12:05 am
when i buld engine i don,t have the blade on. so go ahead and started it up.
September 15th, 2009 at 1:02 am
not at all.