Replacing the head gasket on a Craftsman riding mower

My Craftsman riding mower (917.272680) with a 17.5 HP Briggs & Stratton engine was smoking and burning through oil. Just about every week, I would need to add a half pint - pint of oil!! After some research, I realized that the head gasket was probably blown, so I ordered a gasket kit and got to work. Sure enough, the gasket was bad!

The repair was fairly straightforward, with the exception of a stubborn exhaust bolt. When reassembling, you need to re-adjust the valves - but that's pretty easy. Just go slow, and check your work at each step!

My Briggs & Stratton engine is a 31C707 and I bought the gasket kit, Part number 690190, on ebay for about $12 USD (which included shipping) - not bad! These engines are quite common, so finding parts should be fairly easy.