I'm disassembling my Tecumseh LEV120 because something is broken inside. Probably a camshaft. Now for sure the crankshaft is broken. I used the knock off tool as described in the Tecumseh repair manual and it broke the end of the snout off. So now I have to buy a crankshaft too. But I absolutely cannot get the lower cover off where it's mounted to the mower deck. It's a Toro push mower. I unbolted and removed the entire engine from the deck. There is the blade adapter that I assume comes out so the cover can slide off the crankshaft. But I absolutely cannot get that blade adapter off. There's no snap ring or bolts left on either the engine block or the adapter. Does the piston have to be in a certain direction? The engine block is bare, there's nothing left to remove except internal parts. It doesn't get into specific directions in the Tecumseh repair manual. It only mentions that the horizontal crank engines have a seal and snap ring to remove and the engine with the 8.5:1 gear reduction turn the crank to roll the reduction shaft off the crank worm gear. I know the parts will cost more than the mower is worth, but I know I can make it work again so I'm going to do it, but in no hurry. What do I need to do to get the bottom cover off?

Once you get the blade adapter off and remove all the bolts in the oil pan, there is nothing else holding it on. You may want to dress the shaft with some emery tape to clean off any rust or residue that may be on it, this will make it easier for the pan to come off. There are no clips or retainers holding the pan onto the crankshaft on this engine.

That's the problem now. On the bottom the adapter is still there. Mine has the self propelled drive belt system. So it has the flange where the blade threads in and then above that is the pulley. It's all made into one adapter. It seems to be stuck on the crankshaft keeping me from being able to remove the bottom cover. I wacked a the blade coupler flange a few good times with a rubber mallet and it doesn't budge at all. I sprayed it really good with some liquid wrench up into the crank snout and where the adapted meets, but it doesn't budge. I don't wanna break the rod by pounding it off too hard. There's no room to get any emery paper in to smooth it out. Any suggesstions?

Any suggesstions?

Yeah, if you're going to replace the crankshaft anyway, get out a hacksaw and cut the crank off at the adapter and be done with it.