Pull rope spring

[jsefton]

Replacing a broken spring and having trouble getting two halves back together. Any pointers? I have the end of the spring on the peg on the bottom half but having trouble aligning the peg with the top half as I put it together. The motor is a 1975 25hp Johnson Seahorse (25R75) Any help would be appreciated.

 

[fdrgator]

jsefton, So you are saying you have the spring wound in the housing but can't get the pin in the pulley to align with the inner end of the spring?? With a pair of pliers, gently bend the inner end of the spring curved toward the center of the housing, more or less where it will align with the pulley's pin. Now is the time to smear some grease on the spring. Then with the center spindle removed from the pulley, carefully lower it into place, feeling around for the pin going into the loop. Once you get it in place, install the center spindle (lubed), and bolt. BTW, before you got anywhere near this point, you should have removed the handle and grabbed the knot end and pulled the rope out of the pulley, and removed the pawl assembly. Back to where we were---notice the small, about 1/8" hole in the pulley? Find a nail or Allen wrench or something that will fit through that hole and keep it handy for the next step. Hold the whole thing down on the benchtop and wind the pulley counterclockwise as far as it will go, then unwind it a turn and stick the nail in the hole. Let it relax enough till the nail stops it from unwinding further. Now you have all day to put the rope back in and install the handle. That done, hang onto the rope and remove the nail and let the pulley rewind. Reinstall the pawl assy and you are done. Caution: When winding it up, be sure to hang onto it. If you turn loose and let it go flying back it will backlash and destroy the spring. It isn't all that hard to do. I could have put it together in less time than it took to type this.