I bought this new "Weed Eater" brand mower about 5 years ago. It's been
fairly reliable, once I got rid of "safety crap", like the grass exhaust
chute cover that caused it to plug up all the time, and the plastic flap
on the rear that got under the blade when I would backup and kill the
mower.

Anyhow, another annoyance is the long starting rope which went up on the
handle and got stuck against objects regularly. Well, a month ago, that
rope finally got stuck for the last time and ripped about 8 inches off,
including the pull grip. So, I reattached the grip on the shorter rope,
so the grip would be right by the engine (like they used to be). But I
left about 6 inches of rope sticking out of the grip. Not long enough to
get under the mower, but a little spare rope.

I cant believe that that extra rope got in between the bottom of the
engine and the deck. Then it got wrapped around the crankshaft, and
suxcked the whole rope under the deck where it was wound tightly around
the shaft. Thus killing the engine and seizing everything.

I cant believe that rope got sucked into that 1/8" (at most) gap under
the engine. And the grip got torn off. (Yes, I will now fill that gap
with some caulk).

Anyhow, I took the whole top off the engine, the part with the rope and
it's spring. Nothing is broke, except the grip, (and I have a spare one
of them from a mower I junked).

However, this part I dont understand. The rope now hangs out of the
mower top, at least 16" more than it used to. And when I pull the rope,
it only comes out about 12", (not enough to start the engine). What
stops the rope from going inside the top, is a ferrle (metal clip) on
the rope. Somehow, it appears that ferrle moved down the rope, yet it's
very tight on the rope. How it slipped is beyond me, and how to get it
off, and move it on the rope, is even more of a mystery.

I'd probably replace the whole rope, but I remember trying to do that
once before, and having the spring unwind and ending up with a huge
mess, which I finally had to take to a mower repair shop.

Anyhow, I will somehow have to remove that ferrle, and put it at the
right spot on the rope. But where is that spot? Can someone please tell
me how far your rope pulls out of your mower (all the way out). I'm
thinking it used to pull out about 28 to 30 inches, just a guess....

Thanks

wrote:
I bought this new "Weed Eater" brand mower about 5 years ago. It's
been fairly reliable, once I got rid of "safety crap", like the grass
exhaust chute cover that caused it to plug up all the time, and the
plastic flap on the rear that got under the blade when I would backup
and kill the mower.

Anyhow, another annoyance is the long starting rope which went up on
the handle and got stuck against objects regularly. Well, a month
ago, that rope finally got stuck for the last time and ripped about 8
inches off, including the pull grip. So, I reattached the grip on the
shorter rope, so the grip would be right by the engine (like they
used to be). But I left about 6 inches of rope sticking out of the
grip. Not long enough to get under the mower, but a little spare rope.

I cant believe that that extra rope got in between the bottom of the
engine and the deck. Then it got wrapped around the crankshaft, and
suxcked the whole rope under the deck where it was wound tightly
around the shaft. Thus killing the engine and seizing everything.

I cant believe that rope got sucked into that 1/8" (at most) gap under
the engine. And the grip got torn off. (Yes, I will now fill that gap
with some caulk).

Anyhow, I took the whole top off the engine, the part with the rope
and it's spring. Nothing is broke, except the grip, (and I have a
spare one of them from a mower I junked).

However, this part I dont understand. The rope now hangs out of the
mower top, at least 16" more than it used to. And when I pull the
rope, it only comes out about 12", (not enough to start the engine).
What stops the rope from going inside the top, is a ferrle (metal
clip) on the rope. Somehow, it appears that ferrle moved down the
rope, yet it's very tight on the rope. How it slipped is beyond me,
and how to get it off, and move it on the rope, is even more of a
mystery.

I'd probably replace the whole rope, but I remember trying to do that
once before, and having the spring unwind and ending up with a huge
mess, which I finally had to take to a mower repair shop.

Anyhow, I will somehow have to remove that ferrle, and put it at the
right spot on the rope. But where is that spot? Can someone please
tell me how far your rope pulls out of your mower (all the way out).
I'm thinking it used to pull out about 28 to 30 inches, just a
guess....


The "ferrle" wouldn't fit under the engine and got moved on the cord. Just make
sure you cut off the cord so this can't happen again. Clamp the cord loosly in a
vise and yank hard on the engine end of it and you might move the "ferrle" back.
But that requires taking it apart.

On Thursday, August 6, 2015 at 5:24:09 AM UTC-5, wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmo6oYOJJ4U

In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 6 Aug 2015 07:01:17 -0700, "Bob F"
wrote:

wrote:
I bought this new "Weed Eater" brand mower about 5 years ago. It's
been fairly reliable, once I got rid of "safety crap", like the grass
exhaust chute cover that caused it to plug up all the time, and the
plastic flap on the rear that got under the blade when I would backup
and kill the mower.

Anyhow, another annoyance is the long starting rope which went up on
the handle and got stuck against objects regularly. Well, a month
ago, that rope finally got stuck for the last time and ripped about 8
inches off, including the pull grip. So, I reattached the grip on the
shorter rope, so the grip would be right by the engine (like they
used to be). But I left about 6 inches of rope sticking out of the
grip. Not long enough to get under the mower, but a little spare rope.

I cant believe that that extra rope got in between the bottom of the
engine and the deck. Then it got wrapped around the crankshaft, and
suxcked the whole rope under the deck where it was wound tightly
around the shaft. Thus killing the engine and seizing everything.

I cant believe that rope got sucked into that 1/8" (at most) gap under

I'm very surprised too.

the engine. And the grip got torn off. (Yes, I will now fill that gap
with some caulk).

Anyhow, I took the whole top off the engine, the part with the rope
and it's spring. Nothing is broke, except the grip, (and I have a
spare one of them from a mower I junked).

However, this part I dont understand. The rope now hangs out of the
mower top, at least 16" more than it used to. And when I pull the
rope, it only comes out about 12", (not enough to start the engine).
What stops the rope from going inside the top, is a ferrle (metal
clip) on the rope. Somehow, it appears that ferrle moved down the
rope, yet it's very tight on the rope. How it slipped is beyond me,
and how to get it off, and move it on the rope, is even more of a
mystery.

I'd probably replace the whole rope, but I remember trying to do that
once before, and having the spring unwind and ending up with a huge
mess, which I finally had to take to a mower repair shop.

Anyhow, I will somehow have to remove that ferrle, and put it at the
right spot on the rope. But where is that spot? Can someone please
tell me how far your rope pulls out of your mower (all the way out).
I'm thinking it used to pull out about 28 to 30 inches, just a
guess....


The "ferrle" wouldn't fit under the engine and got moved on the cord. Just make
sure you cut off the cord so this can't happen again. Clamp the cord loosly in a
vise and yank hard on the engine end of it and you might move the "ferrle" back.
But that requires taking it apart.

It's been a while since I worked on recoil starters, but I find it hard
to believee the ferrule ?? moved.

I think there may be a problem with the rope, recoiil spring. That the
rope got pulled out so far, all the way, with such force (could t hat
make a difference?) and now it only rewinds 12 inches

You may need to take the top cover of the engine off, loosen whatever
retains the recoil winding enough to wrap the rope around it all for
another 3 feet or so. Try not to take the whole thing apart because
iirc, there is a problem getting it back together, At least I thought
there was the 2nd through 5th times I tried to do one of these. (The
first time everything went fine.)


I sucessfully replaced a recoil spring once, with little or no trouble,
but the next time it needed it, years later, I tried over and over and
kept breaking off the tab at the end. Obviously I was doing it wrong
but I didn't know how. I think someone gave me a better mower at that
time so I never got around to fixing the first one, and alas never
learned what I did wrong, or if the mower itself had a problem. .

micky wrote:

I sucessfully replaced a recoil spring once, with little or no
trouble, but the next time it needed it, years later, I tried over
and over and kept breaking off the tab at the end. Obviously I was
doing it wrong but I didn't know how. I think someone gave me a
better mower at that time so I never got around to fixing the first
one, and alas never learned what I did wrong, or if the mower itself
had a problem.

I've fixed a couple recoil springs by grinding new notches into the sides of the
broken ends. I never had a problem with the end breaking off again during
reassembly.

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 8 Aug 2015 08:05:17 -0700, "Bob F"
wrote:

micky wrote:

I sucessfully replaced a recoil spring once, with little or no
trouble, but the next time it needed it, years later, I tried over
and over and kept breaking off the tab at the end. Obviously I was
doing it wrong but I didn't know how. I think someone gave me a
better mower at that time so I never got around to fixing the first
one, and alas never learned what I did wrong, or if the mower itself
had a problem.

I've fixed a couple recoil springs by grinding new notches into the sides of the
broken ends. I never had a problem with the end breaking off again during
reassembly.

Yeah, I was doing it wrong. The mower has been sitting unused and
rusting in a corner for 15 years now. It's a very tucked away corner or
I might have thrown it away by now.

Small, townhouse lot, use electric now. Lots of bushes and trees so the
cord is a nuisance, but it always starts.