10 hp Evinrude ‘63

[jonathanwsmith]

Pull rope pulls 1” then locks and will not pull any further. Flywheel turns freely. Motor/pull rope mechanism been running great for 55 years. This happened without any other symptoms presenting. https://youtu.be/ZG30D6igkeA
thanks,
Jonathan Smith

 

[oldboat1]

Hesitate to comment, as recoil springs can be dangerous. The rope may have gone off track. Take off the mounting bracket on top (3 screws to the powerhead). Mechanism will be underneath, held in by the center bolt. You should be a able to see the spring and pawl assembly on the underside of the spool, and whether the rope is where it should be. You can loosen the nut on top slightly to see if it was binding, but need to be careful with that. Try to free up the cord and check operation (some WD-40 in the center bolt wouldn't hurt.)

 

[oldboat1]

Shoot. Saw the video earlier, then apparently forgot about it. Anyway, can you see if the rope is hung up on top of the spool without further disassembly?

 

[jonathanwsmith]

Thank you Oldboat1. I crept inside the mechanism just enough to see that the spring had popped up and off the post. About that time the spring let’s loose (I was expecting this) and it scared the dogs right off of the dock. I found a careful and well documented summaryof how to reinstall an escaped spring, and a sweet soon as we catch our breath, we are going to attempt to rewind it.

Kind regards,

Jonathan Smith

 

[oldboat1]

Dogs and owner unhurt thus far. Could be worse.

Hey -- good luck with it. Be safe!

 

[boobie]

Put some safety glasses on when you're working on this rewind. Experience talking !!!!

 

[jonathanwsmith]

Thank you Boobie and Oldboat1. I was plumb embarrassed to tell y’all that when the spring came unleashed and scared the dogs off the dock, it upset me and the three bolts went flying overboard and 220 foot of water. I was so embarrassedI wrote a post asking if anybody knew the diameter, length, and thread count of those three precious bolts.

 

[Chinewalker]

If you can't find anything locally, drop me a PM - I've got dozens...

 

[racerone]

They are not precious at all.----Factory list price includes shipping and handling.-----Nobody makes any money in selling an $ 8.00 bolt.----Your local hardware store has bolts for this job for 19 cents each.

 

[tomhath]

Look at a few youtube videos on how to rewind a spring with an electric drill and a couple of zip ties. It actually works really well.

 

[jonathanwsmith]

dog slinks behind boathouse when she sees me compressing the recoil spring. what on earth will she do when i stick a drill to it? actually, I was thinking of hooking up my cordless drill to my hand crank ice crusher. But I will give your kind suggestion a whirl (no pun). I love any op to use zip ties, too.