Height Adjustment Knob 731-13116-1

Loosen the bolt securing the air filter cover and remove revealing air filter. Clean area under cover and around filter and remove the dirty filter. Carefully clean air intake behind filter. Install the new filter and replace the cover and tightened the bolt.
A conventional replacement of the rear safety shield would have required d ... Read more ismantling and removing both rear wheels and height adjusting mechanisms and I did not have the time to do that. The shield hangs on a rod behind the rear wheels. The rod slides through a channel in the molded plastic shield with the ends extending through holes on the right and left metal sides of the mower and the ends of the rod are crimped flat. My solution was to drill a small hole adjoining the hole that held rod on the right side. This enlarged the hole enough to allow the crimped end to pass through the side of the mower and slide off the damaged shield. Slide the new shield on the rod, a little lubricant makes an easier job. Find two washers of a correct size and use the Dremel tool with grinder tip to enlarge the holes in the washers to slide over the crimp on the rod end, one next to the shield one on the outer side of the mower. Then drill a small hole in the crimp on the rod end and secure with a cotter pin of the correct size. Everything should stay put completing the repair. This power mower is 14 years old and has been hard used, so the slight modification to make this repair to enable mowing a little more safely seemed like a good time saving option.

Replacing the missing adjusting lever knob is simple. Clean the end of the adjusting lever. I put a dab of gorilla glue on the lever and placed the new knob on the lever correctly oriented.

Removed front drive wheels. Cleaned and lubed the drive mechanism and front height adjuster.
Removed rear wheels. Cleaned and lubed rear wheel bearings and height adjuster. Installed new knobs and grips. My 22 y.o. mower works like new.
Thanks!