Removing Sheared Lawn Mower Blade Bolt

[buckeye95]

All,

I started my Honda mower today and moved about 2 feet when the engine sound changed like it was revving at a higher RPM. I immediately stopped the motor and pushed it forward to take a look, and low and behold the full blade assembly appears in the grass as I push over it. I flip the deck and see where the bolt has sheared off inside the hole (and also found the bolt head in the grass). Pretty dissapointing for such a highly rated mover that was neither cheap ($400), nor old (5 months).

I called Home Depot where I bought it and they told me they do support warranty work, but when I bring it to the store it will be picked up and worked on by a company that odes the warranty work for all 14 stores in the area and may take up to 2 weeks. Additionally, if the repair is termed "wear and tear", I may be charged a $35 fee (which I will not know until I pick it up).

So, I am looking at making the repair myself, but am not sure how tough it would be to remove a damaged bolt end like this. Has anyone managed to pull a broken bolt out like this ? What technique / tool did you use?

Thanks for any help,

Pete

[TCOTTLE]

If you have a dremel, you can carve a groove in it an try a flat head screwdriver and try to unscrew it. Heat helps as well, propane torch. P.S. Please be careful.

[Mr__Bill]

Check the bolt head and see if it's hardened steel. If it is I would pay the fee and wait the 2 weeks.

If not...
Make sure you know the direction the bolt turns to loosen. If the slot and screwdriver does not work you will need to drill the bolt and use an easy-out to extract the remains. If it's a left hand thread you can tap the hole and run a normal bolt into it and the tightening process will take the other out. This is a process that is easier to do with the blade end of the motor up, that's a problem with gas and oil in it. Have fun.

Bill, ever glad to watch others struggle with a job.

How do I know if it's hardened? Scroll about half way down.

[Daryl]

Beware, if you mess it up you may not have any warranty at all. Being in Columbus, can't you find another shop that does the warranty work?

[buckeye95]

Thanks for all the advice...

I checked the head and it looks to be a grade-8 standard bolt (one level below hardened). Looks like it would be a tough job, in addition to getting the easy-out. Despite my interest in trying this myself, the rational side of me is thinking like Daryl and realizing that I may be causing myself 2 headaches by trying this myself (not fixing it followed by refusal of warranty support for my attempt). I think I will just bite the bullet and take it to HD for the 2 weeks as they mentioned. There are a few dealers here in Columbus, but only one within 20 miles, and they have a bad service reputation. I originally wanted to buy the mower there (to support the local shop), but they had none in stock for several weeks and HD had a shelf full of them. Not sure if they would even work on my mower given I did not purchase it from them.

Thanks again,

Pete

[cgallery]

I have a friend that this happened to. It happened with the replacement bolt, too. We were going to use a hardened bolt, but then we checked the depth of the shaft threads and discovered that it very closely matched the bolt's + the thickness of the blade and the washers.

So our theory was that we weren't getting the bolt snug enough. It was snug enough that we couldn't spin the blade by hand, but when the mower was turned off, the blade could free spin a little. Eventually it just cut the head of the bolt off.

So we ground about 1/8" off the end of the new (non-hardened) bolt and it has been fine for three years.

His mower wasn't a nice Honda or anything. It was just one of those mowers you get at Menards or somewhere.

[tommyt654]

I just hope its not self-propelled, Honda mowers are notorious for terrible transmissions. I,d start looking for another mower asap . . .

[buckeye95]

Wow Tommy - that is news to me. Before I bought this mower I did a lot of research (Consumer Reports, etc.) as well as online reviews at HD.com and people glowed about this model. Based on my experience with Honda cars (on my second Accord now, first one went 240K before I traded it in still running), I was thinking their mowers were the same quality. One of the reasons we got a new mower was to make it easier for my wife to mow, and she was having trouble with the push Lawn-Boy model we had. Hope this sheared bolt is not the shape of things to come with the Honda

Pete

[dbhost]

Not sure about the Honda mowers, but I know the Crafstman mower I have (10 years old and still chugging along) has a warranty contact phone # in the owners manual... If I were in your shoes, I would contact them via the warranty number... You go trying to fix it yourself, you may be left holding the bag...

FWIW, the fancier the machine, the more parts there are to break. Which is why I got the Craftsman 6HP high wheel non self propelled machine...

[frumper64]

Another vote for letting Honda worry about it. I would just either look in the owner's manual to find a Honda certified warranty place or else contact Honda and ask them where a close one is located.

[buckeye95]

Update - Loaded the mower in my minivan today and dragged it up to Home Depot. After about 30 minutes of talking to 4 people across the store (including taking it to the Tool Rental counter for them to look at how bad it was broken), the manager gave me the option of either leaving it for 2-3 weeks for their service company or leaving with a new one since it was only 5 months old. I wisely chose the latter and just unloaded the box in the garage about 5 minutes ago

Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions, and kudos to HD for standing by the product they sell.

Pete

[tommyt654]

Well I,m glad that worked out for you. I would try to make friends at the local mower shop though just in case. I,ve have a lot of mowers, and the Honda,s have always been the most problematic. DYSAFavor. Get a Snapper.

[Uncle Cracker]

Glad that HD stepped up for you... They don't always do that, even though it makes for good customer relations.