Hi,

I've got a Hayter Spirit petrol mover with a Briggs and Stratton engine.
Mower is excellent for its small size, but the rip cord isn't.

It appears to me made of a braided sheath with an inner core of string and
the sheath has worn through (after 1 year).

Before I just go and buy another crap string, are there any better types of
cord I might be able to fit instead? Haven't taken it apart yet to see how
the string is fixed to the starter pully.

The weak point seems to be that the string goes through a metal loop on the
mower handle at an angle and it's the friction here that does the cord in.

Cheers

Tim

On May 10, 12:35*pm, Tim S wrote:
Hi,

I've got a Hayter Spirit petrol mover with a Briggs and Stratton engine.
Mower is excellent for its small size, but the rip cord isn't.

It appears to me made of a braided sheath with an inner core of string and
the sheath has worn through (after 1 year).

Before I just go and buy another crap string, are there any better types of
cord I might be able to fit instead? Haven't taken it apart yet to see how
the string is fixed to the starter pulley.

The weak point seems to be that the string goes through a metal loop on the
mower handle at an angle and it's the friction here that does the cord in..

Can you replace the part that does not enter the winder head?
If not, can you pull out the cord and trap the machinery in the out
position, remove the cord and insert a new piece of nylon?

Either that or as you remove the cord attach a new piece to it. I
remember an early model I had pre designer obsolescence, that had a
knot holding the cord in place. The knot was outside the winder upper.

IIRC, the first one we had had the cord separate to the machine and a
knotted end fit over a vee groove in the gubbins. I wonder why that
idea never stuck?

Weatherlawyer coughed up some electrons that declared:

Can you replace the part that does not enter the winder head?
If not, can you pull out the cord and trap the machinery in the out
position, remove the cord and insert a new piece of nylon?

Either that or as you remove the cord attach a new piece to it. I
remember an early model I had pre designer obsolescence, that had a
knot holding the cord in place. The knot was outside the winder upper.

IIRC, the first one we had had the cord separate to the machine and a
knotted end fit over a vee groove in the gubbins. I wonder why that
idea never stuck?

Aye, I'm not worried about taking it to bits, just looking for a better type
for cord to use.

I'll have to crack it open anyway as the sheath has got trapped inside
making it almost impossible to start and soon the inner cord is going to
snap

Cheers

Tim

Tim S wrote in message
...
Hi,

I've got a Hayter Spirit petrol mover with a Briggs and Stratton engine.
Mower is excellent for its small size, but the rip cord isn't.

It appears to me made of a braided sheath with an inner core of string and
the sheath has worn through (after 1 year).

Before I just go and buy another crap string, are there any better types
of
cord I might be able to fit instead? Haven't taken it apart yet to see how
the string is fixed to the starter pully.

The weak point seems to be that the string goes through a metal loop on
the
mower handle at an angle and it's the friction here that does the cord in.

Cheers

Tim

I replace mine with 5mm Polyester rope, if you have a boat chandlers near
you they sell it by the meter
Re-winding up the recoil spring is a bit of an AH but not that difficult.


-

Mark coughed up some electrons that declared:


Tim S wrote in message
...
Hi,

I've got a Hayter Spirit petrol mover with a Briggs and Stratton engine.
Mower is excellent for its small size, but the rip cord isn't.

It appears to me made of a braided sheath with an inner core of string
and the sheath has worn through (after 1 year).

Before I just go and buy another crap string, are there any better types
of
cord I might be able to fit instead? Haven't taken it apart yet to see
how the string is fixed to the starter pully.

The weak point seems to be that the string goes through a metal loop on
the
mower handle at an angle and it's the friction here that does the cord
in.

Cheers

Tim

I replace mine with 5mm Polyester rope, if you have a boat chandlers near
you they sell it by the meter
Re-winding up the recoil spring is a bit of an AH but not that difficult.

OK - sounds like an excellent suggestion. I can nip down Hastings or
Bexhill-on-Sea way - must be some chandlers down there somewhere

Many thanks,

Tim

Tim S has brought this to us :
OK - sounds like an excellent suggestion. I can nip down Hastings or
Bexhill-on-Sea way - must be some chandlers down there somewhere

You will find chandlers anywhere there is any boating activity - around
rivers, lakes and canals.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

Harry Bloomfield coughed up some electrons that declared:

Tim S has brought this to us :
OK - sounds like an excellent suggestion. I can nip down Hastings or
Bexhill-on-Sea way - must be some chandlers down there somewhere

You will find chandlers anywhere there is any boating activity - around
rivers, lakes and canals.


Good point. Yalding is near me - seem to remember lots of boats there. Ah,
Yellow pages shows a boat shop. Failing that, turns out there are loads in
Maidstone. Wrong direction but not that far.

"Tim S" wrote in message
...
Harry Bloomfield coughed up some electrons that declared:

Tim S has brought this to us :
OK - sounds like an excellent suggestion. I can nip down Hastings or
Bexhill-on-Sea way - must be some chandlers down there somewhere

You will find chandlers anywhere there is any boating activity - around
rivers, lakes and canals.


Good point. Yalding is near me - seem to remember lots of boats there. Ah,
Yellow pages shows a boat shop. Failing that, turns out there are loads in
Maidstone. Wrong direction but not that far.

I think proper "starter cord" is tougher than that ordinary stuff. Last time
I had this problem I got a length of starter cord off eBay. This one claims
to be genuine Stihl

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STIHL-SPARES-T...1%7C294 %3A50

Tim S wrote:

Good point. Yalding is near me - seem to remember lots of boats there. Ah,
Yellow pages shows a boat shop. Failing that, turns out there are loads in
Maidstone. Wrong direction but not that far.

Ask for advice on a cord that's abrasion resistant. There's usually
quite a range at chandlers and some types don't stand up to abrasion
well (kevlar for example). I think you'd be best off with a polyester
cord with braided outer sheath - that seems to have lasted very well for
me in use that sees a lot of wear.

Tim S wrote in message
...


I replace mine with 5mm Polyester rope, if you have a boat chandlers
near
you they sell it by the meter
Re-winding up the recoil spring is a bit of an AH but not that
difficult.

OK - sounds like an excellent suggestion. I can nip down Hastings or
Bexhill-on-Sea way - must be some chandlers down there somewhere

Many thanks,

Tim

Sovereign Harbour Eastbourne or Marine Parade Hastings, don't think they are
allowed to keep rope in Gods waiting room. ;(


-

On 10 May, 12:35, Tim S wrote:

I've got a Hayter Spirit petrol mover with a Briggs and Stratton engine.

The weak point seems to be that the string goes through a metal loop on the
mower handle at an angle and it's the friction here that does the cord in.

Go to a spares place that does Lawnflite and buy one of their
excellent diecast starter cord guides with the smooth bellmouths.
I've one of these on an orginal Lawnflite, another fitted to a Hayter
to fix just this problem. On the whole I prefer the Hayter as a mower,
but Lawnflite have a better cord guide.

OTOH, the electric start keyswitch on the Lawnflite is a piece of
junk. Got through a couple of those before swapping it for something
from the spares box.

Andy Dingley coughed up some electrons that declared:

On 10 May, 12:35, Tim S wrote:

I've got a Hayter Spirit petrol mover with a Briggs and Stratton engine.

The weak point seems to be that the string goes through a metal loop on
the mower handle at an angle and it's the friction here that does the
cord in.

Go to a spares place that does Lawnflite and buy one of their
excellent diecast starter cord guides with the smooth bellmouths.
I've one of these on an orginal Lawnflite, another fitted to a Hayter
to fix just this problem. On the whole I prefer the Hayter as a mower,
but Lawnflite have a better cord guide.

That sounds excellent - thanks . I sahll look out for one of those.

Cheers

Tim

OTOH, the electric start keyswitch on the Lawnflite is a piece of
junk. Got through a couple of those before swapping it for something
from the spares box.

In article ,
Tim S writes:
Hi,

I've got a Hayter Spirit petrol mover with a Briggs and Stratton engine.
Mower is excellent for its small size, but the rip cord isn't.

It appears to me made of a braided sheath with an inner core of string and
the sheath has worn through (after 1 year).

Before I just go and buy another crap string, are there any better types of
cord I might be able to fit instead? Haven't taken it apart yet to see how
the string is fixed to the starter pully.

The weak point seems to be that the string goes through a metal loop on the
mower handle at an angle and it's the friction here that does the cord in.

The 3.5HP B&S engine I had on my petrol mower had a wind-up
spring-release starter, which always seemed to me to be much
easier to use than rip cord. I never saw another one like it,
so I don't know if they still exist. It was an extra-cost
option when the mower was bought in 1965.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

On 11 May, 13:12, (Andrew Gabriel) wrote:

The 3.5HP B&S engine I had on my petrol mower had a wind-up
spring-release starter, which always seemed to me to be much
easier to use than rip cord.

Yesterday I was doing the season's first cut on a long, wet lawn.
Stalled every few feet. I really appreciated the handlebar-mounted
pull handle for the starter, it saved a lot of bending down over the
engine.