Well she's back together now and I'm absolutely stoked. The clutch operates really smoothly, better than I can ever remember.

I'm now pretty sure it was because the clutch housing was too close to the engine and hence the fork was adjusted way too far over and so the cone wasn't clearing the cork enough and probably shining up the cork.

Is it possible that this unbalanced the shaft etc.? Just that the whole machine runs so much smoother with no vibrations whatsoever. The only thing I did to the engine was clean the air filter and clean up the spark plug a bit, but they were both quite new and in really good condition anyway. I'll probably take that metal strap off connected to the grass deflector...because the mower vibrated, the rattling of the grass deflector was really annoying.

I ran the mower over a very spongy area of the lawn and it purred through on half revs, whereas before I would have it almost full throttle and it would struggle. A few pictures below:
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Deejay, I can't thank you enough. I would never have tried taking the engine off or attempt to take the clutch apart without your guidance and the confidence you gave me by making it all look simple, especially your videos. They really are not that complicated bits of machinery from what I've seen (bit overconfident maybe). There is no way I'll ever take it to a mower shop again except for maybe the engine....although maybe I could give that a crack too.

Regards
Garry