Hello everyone. This is my first post. Please bear with me.

I bought a Craftsman mower for $3 at a yard sale. It is a 371.636111 with a 143.976600 Tecumseh engine. It does not run, hence the $3 price. The oil looks clean and full, little wear on the front self propel wheels, and the plug is clean. Upon inspection I found the blade adapter cracked and the key sheared in two. I purchased a 730235B bowl kit for the carb. No doubt it will need it as it has probably hasn't run for some time.

My question: Would the kickback when starting be due only to the cracked blade adapter? The blade was actually spinning on the shaft. I pulled the starter cup and it looks like the flyweel key is in its correct position. I will attempt to attach a couple photos.

Thanks in advance!

Yes, the blade acts as a counter balance for the engine. The added inertia of the weight of the blade helps keep the engine tuning in the right direction when starting. The ignition is setup with a slight advance and without a blade or counter weight attached tightly to the crankshaft, the engine will kick back when you try to start. If the flywheel key gets sheared this will also cause the ignition timing to advance more, so you can get kick back on engines where the blade is tight, but the key is sheared.

You may want to make sure the crankshaft is not bent while you have it down to this point. Hitting something is what usually causes this type of damage to blade adapters.