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Rewinding the pull cord spring on a 1973 Honda 7.5

Doug Follett

New member
I'm having a hard time searching this site and could use some help figuring out how to rewind the spring on my 1973 Honda 7.5 outboard. It looks simple enough but it is putting up quite a fight and doesn't want to go in without a major struggle. So far it is winning. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
I haven't done one in quite some time. They are a booger bear. Just about the time you think you got it, it pops out and tries to slice your fingers off! If I remember correctly, I would hook the spring in the housing and, with the spool laying flat on the housing out side of the "well", I would try and get it just small enough to work it down in position in the "well".

If the rope is already on the spool and the end is tucked out of the way, you can then put the center bolt in to hold it there. After that, it is just a matter of winding it to tension and then wedging it to stay until you can use a pick or hooked wire to fish out the end of the rope through the hole and tie a knot in it until you get the handle on.

The thing to remember is not to get it too tight initially because pulling the cord out makes it tighter and I broke a spring once with one that was way too tight.

Good luck.
 
Jeeze Louise! That's about what I figured. So I guess it's back at it again. Thanks for the information. At least I know I'm on the right track. I'm sure an old Honda technician could do it with his eyes closed in a couple of minutes. Fllip, flip, twist, twist, "There you go kid!"
 
Yes, you are right. I'm old and I'm a Honda tech. And, at one time, I WAS pretty damn good at getting them back in! That was until I found out the secret to keeping them from coming out in the first place! Since then, I haven't done a single one.:)
 
OK, here's my report, in case anyone else out there has sprung their starter rewind spring. I spent two hours Friday using what I imagined jgmo's technique to be. I'm not certain I was doing it correctly. I was pre wrapping the coil on the pulley and then snagging the outer end of the coil on its seat in the pulley well and trying to drop the pulley into the well, hoping everything stayed in place (which it usually didn’t). Once I had it the first time it seemed to work well with a nice return to it but unfortunately I had put the spring in backwards! I tried again this evening and two and a half hours later I finally got it back in again.......BACKWARDS!!!!!! OK I figured "this is insane" so I looked around on the Net and came up with someone’s home grown post about putting the spring back in an old OMC motor. They started with just the spring and caught the outer edge in its notch inside of the pulley well. From there it is carefully wound down in on itself from the outside in to the center. It was a lot easier than doing the reverse, which was winding the spring on the center of the pulley first, working from the inside out. When I was done the spring was wound in on itself and seated in the well with no need to hold it in place. By winding the spring around the center of the pulley you are always working with a loaded coil that wants to take off at the slightest provocation. By winding the coil from the outside in, into the inner well first it's very stable once it is seated and will hold its tension with a lot less danger of the spring popping out. It’s also is a lot easier to drop the pulley into place because you're not fighting the spring. The pulley is dropped into place, loose without the spring attached. You can see the inner portion of the spring that catches on the inside of the pulley through the center hole as you drop it into place. Using a screw driver you then give the end of the spring a little nudge pushing it into place on the tab on the pulley. At this point the spring is under tension but the pulley is not. The tension is held in check and not being transferred to the pulley because it is wound tightly and fully expanded into the inner portion of the pulley well. Once you have the pulley in place and the end of the spring has been guided onto its catch (tab) near the center of the pulley you need to tension the spring more by turning the pulley in the direction of the spring tension. This winds the spring to a smaller diameter. Tensioning it a few more turns gives it some room to expand so that it can recoil the rope. Once you have wound the pulley a few turns so that it has some room to recoil you then run the rope (uncoiled) out through its opening. Gently release the pulley and hopefully the spring is set so that it recoils the rope fully. If the rope has too much recoil or not enough you will need to back it out and either release a wind or take up another wind or two to obtain the correct amount of tension to properly to recoil the rope (pull handle attached). Good luck is all I have to say.
 
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Doug,
Looks like you built a better mousetrap. At least that's what it feels like you're working/messing with one of these things.

Sorry I caused you so much pain with my way but, truth be known, you''re last sentence here was what I wanted to and should just have said at the outset...Good luck. You might have solved the puzzle much more quickly.

Thanks for posting this because it could be tomorrow when I will need to refer back for an easier way.
 
jgmo, your information was key to my initial success. Witout your encouragment I would have never gotten as far as I did. Any way you aproach that coil it's a bear to get back in. You have to wonder how they came up with the idea in the first place.
 
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