You might have weakened the bolt, causing it to shear when you run the engine
It is generally caused by improper valve adjustment. But can be caused by excessive RPM. On the 17.5 the intake push rod is most often the one bent or broke. Try idling down the engine prior to turning it off.
Take off the air cleaner and cover. There will be a rod attached to the throttle arm. Locate that rod and follow it back to what will most likely look something like a lever extending out from the engine block. That is the external portion of the governor. There are also gears and a counterweight inside the engine that act in conjunction with the external parts.
The most common reason would be the ignition coil is bad. The worst reason would be a broke rod, but you should be able to a rattle inside the engine where the broken part is knocking!
The qualified answer is yes. Understand that the connecting rod will break at the wrist pin at 5500-6000 RPMs. An OHV engine will probably damage the valve train prior to that happening. You do not state your reasoning for wanting to know.
Three specs are considered critical; the connecting rod cap at 110 in-lbs, the sump cover at 110 in-lbs and the cylinder head at 165 in-lbs.
The correct answer to this is it is a 206cc, was a 13 cubic inch, to confirm this if you look in one of the corners of the head, on the outside, it will be stamped with a 13, showing it is a 5hp engine. If the engine was torn down you could look on the stroke area of the rod and on one side its stamped with the mold number, and the other side with the cubic inch of the engine, which would be a 13.
rod tensile failure
A bad engine rod is an engine rod that has misbeheaved.
Most likely there was a lubrication failure resulting in an increase in friction causing a catastrophic failure within the engine . The piston , the piston rings , the wrist-pin , or a bearing failure not receiving enough lubrication caused a piston to exit the block . Metal on metal = a thrown rod which is connected to the piston and the connecting rod is connected to both the piston through a wrist-pin and connecting rod connected to the crankshaft . See video tutorial below .
Most common culprit in surging is a dirty/clogged air filter.
Your best bet is to go to briggsandstratton.com go to parts then model no. and that should give you the correct part no.