Working on a Lawnboy 0292 recoil.... making me crazy!

[Lyndmc]

I'm repairing an old 0292 for a friend. Unrelated to the original issue, when I pulled the starter, the rope didn't recoil. I found that a piece had broken on the white plastic starter, the piece that holds the spring in place and has the worm drive. I found a brand new old stock piece and I replaced it. I had it running a few times and then suddenly the rope wouldn't recoil, it lost its preload.

At this point I have a new plastic piece that includes the worm drive, a new rope, a new handle, and the original spring. I've had the spring out so I know that it's not broken anywhere. I wouldn't say that the ball end of the spring is perfect, but I believe it to be fine. It looks to have been recurled on the end at least once. The hook end is perfect and is in the slot.

I can't for the life of me figure out why I preload the spring and everything works fine for a few pulls, then it looses preload. I take it apart and everything looks right, the ball end is where it should be, the spring is in the groove, the hook end is in the slot.

Any suggestions?

 

[Lyndmc]

Here are some pics of the broken part that I replaced. You can see the crack, that piece to the right is just sitting on there.

 

[bogdaN]

I remember working on this in 70 & 80,what holding that shaft?,setscrew and that screw it,s bad or strip tread.U may need to re-tap that tread in engine .Let us know what U find.Dan

 

[Lyndmc]

There is a single Allen head bolt in the block that clamps to the shaft. I appreciate the attempt, but I can’t think that this is a part of the problem for two reasons. It is tight and not stripped, secondly there is a finger the goes over the spool that holds the rope. That arm would not let the recoil unit rotate even one revolution until it hit the rope and stopped it. I have that finger indexed to the 3 o’clock position and it doesn’t move when the problem occurs.

 

[Lyndmc]

UPDATE: I've discovered the problem, not sure why, but I see it.

After putting the recoil together, sliding it into the block and tightening the set screw, the first pull or two works fine. After the second pull, the recoil binds up leading me to believe that the spring let go. I found that if I loosen the set screw at the block, the recoil winds back up. Why this happens after 2 pulls is beyond me! I let the shaft slide out a bit from the block and then tighten the set screw and it still happens. I plan to completely disassemble everything again, make sure that the end washer is smooth, re-grease everything, smooth off all of the previous set screw marks on the shaft, and try it again. I know that I have nowhere near as much grease on the unit as it had when I removed it, I hope that's all it is.

 

[jp1961]

Hello,

Per the Lawn-Boy Mechanics handbook, there should be about 1/32" clearance between the end of the helix gear and the armature plate.

If your pushing the starter assembly snug against the engine, this could be causing your problem.

Regards

Jeff

 

[Lyndmc]

Thanks Jeff, I’ll allow some clearance. It may be more than that but that’s definitely a contributing factor.

This last time when I removed the recoil, it was still bound up off of the mower. This is the first time that this happened. I’m going to clean and grease everything and keep my fingers crossed.

 

[bogdaN]

You on right track,i was busy also ---take some pic,s from book.Machanic,s handbook.On that starter do U have washer and retaining ring? Dan
Jeff give U good tip also.

 

[bogdaN]

I forgot one more thing,per book--never lubricate pulley - keep it clean and dry,one moer pic.Dan

 

[Lyndmc]

So where is lubrication called for, the shaft inside the pulley and maybe the washer and keeper end only?

I found that the washer had a big burr so I smoothed that. I have the spring, shaft and cover soaking in the parts washer. So no lube on the spring itself? It was loaded when I took it apart originally.