Lawn mower reassembly--spring winding
 

Had to disassemble my 20 yr old Craftsman lawn mower to replace the magneto (starting issues) and to replace the pull cord, which was sufficiently worn that it slipped out of the eyelet near the top of the handle and got chomped to bits along w the handle.

Considered just tying a new piece on to what was left, but figured since I have no knowledge of serious knot tying, I'd just replace the entire cord.

Couldn't find a "service manual" so I figured, what the hell, how hard can this be. I've never taken a lawn mower apart before or worked on one.

During dis-assembly, I inadvertently let the coil spring (that retracts the pull cord back) uncoil uncontrollably. The configuration is such that one end of the spring attaches to the housing, and the other to the spool on which the pull cord is wrapped.

My problem is that I do not know how much tension should be wound into this spring to make the starting pull bearable and ensure that the pull cord retracts properly.

Also, do I coil it up on the spool and then attach to the housing or vice versa. Option 1 was difficult at best and that was with little tension on the spring. There must be a specialty tool for this step......

All advice welcome...I need to get the mower running to cut my lawn by Sunday.....

Oh and when I went to start it, the pull cord came out and stayed out, and somehow the brake did not release properly so all I got was metal on metal.....

Any mower-savvy folks out there?

I wanna say when I did mine, I put full tension on the coil spring. It was a pain, and I was mad when I did it, so don't really remember. Took a few tries to get it right, and snapping 3 pull strings.


Everything I did was trial and error.

thank you. so I am on the path many have followed.
If i have to wind that puppy all the way up there's gonna be some bitchin n cussin in Derf's garage tomorrow

You DO need to wind it as tight as you can, derf. If not, then you're going to have some slack rope hanging out of the top where you pull it. If you don't mind a short pull, then don't wind it so tight and cut the rope off at the handle. Vice grip it where it comes out, then cut it off, and tie your handle knot back in it. It's a pain in the butt, but you can handle it. Probably out there on youtube. I've done a LOT of them in my days and hated every one of them.

You will hate it and will sound like a sailor. I had mine ripped apart several times in a few days. MISERABLE!

back together and running with new pull cord, magneto, air filter and plug.

Found a youtube video of a guy explaining how to re coil the coil spring for a mower from the 70s. Then out of the blue he starts talking about spring orientation and pull cord winding direction for briggs n stratton motors.

In short, it works much better if
1) the magneto is not jammed up against the flywheel
2) the spring is NOT installed upside down and therefore backwards
3) the cord is NOT wound backwards.

Other than that I had it right on the first try.

Thanks for the support

You tube is a veritable goldmine for those of us not afraid to search and try.