Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Gas lawn mover - rusty flywheel

in an attempt to entertain myself, i grabbed an old lawn mover and started taking it apart. it has a 2 in. hole in the block, so I'm not worried about damaging it.

my problem is i have no idea how to remove a flywheel without a flywheel holder, and the nut is rusty... i tried holding one of the fins with a wrench, but the fin broke off completely... anyone have any advice? it would be much appreciated.

well, thanks anyway, but i got it. i stuck a crowbar through the hole in the block, truned the flywheel till the crankshaft got stuck on it, got the biggest wrench i could and whacked it with a 8 pound hammer,

Glad you got it but for future purposes, you wouldn't want to ruin a good engine so, if you don't have the proper tools then a flywheel strap wrench is a good tool to have and for holding most any diameter 'wheel. If you know where and how to use a wedge type chisel this is a good tool to break the 'wheel free from the tapered crankshaft on many engines. Or, as a last resort, with one person using two heavy standard pliers and the other person with a brass punch and 20 ounce or better hammer have person 1 grab ahold of two opposite flywheel fins and lift up with all their might and have person 2 use the brass punch and hammer and whack on the end of the crankshaft to jar the 'wheel loose. Usually though the crank gets mushroomed and will need to be cleaned and beveled and possibly died (if crank threads are to the end of crank). Be sure to use gloves and eye protection when doing this procedure this way as you're likely to have debris flying off the brass punch. If this is something you'll be doing regularly, I recommend buying yourself the proper tools though.