Spring-Friction

Remove the engine shroud and then remove three bolts holding the gas down. Loosen another bolt left rear & down of the gas tank and you can tilt the gas tank back w/o removing it completely. Then remove another bolt holding the oil fill tube, pull up slightly and turn to the side so that it clears the engine cover. Remove 4 bolts holding the engine cover/pulley spring assembly and lift it up slowly(make sure you recall how it is mounted over some engine flanges). Remove a bolt holding down the Pawl friction plate over the pulley spring assembly and lift up on the assembly carefully as it contains the recoil starter spring. I then discovered that my new pulley spring assembly had the anchoring loop (the one that anchors on the center tab of the engine cover) looping to the right. My original spring looped to the left. I then had to use two needle nose pliers to carefully grab the spring loop and bend it around to the left making a new anchoring loop. This was very time consuming as you have to be careful of the spring not uncoiling. Once you done the new loop, bent the spring loop towards the center of the coiled spring so that it can catch on the center tab of the engine cover. Once you insert the pulley spring assembly, turn it counter clockwise until tight and then turn it back one turn to release some tension. You have to stick a small screwdriver in-between the pulley assembly and one of the slots in the engine cover to keep the spring from uncoiling. You them align the rope hole in the pulley with the rope hole in the engine cover and insert the new rope, grab it with needle nose and pull it, giving you some slack to tie the knot. You can now release the rope slowly (make sure you have the pull rope handle attached to the other end of rope) until the rope winds completely. You now attach cover back onto engine, making sure it fits correcting onto its location. You can now reattach all other parts in reverse of how you took them off. If you have a digital camera or phone, take pictures before or as you unassemble the engine, so you can remember what goes where.

removed bad friction wheel replaced with new

1. Removed all the extra sheetmetal from the top end of the engine. (2) Removed the rope and spring assy and examined the pawl and pawl plate.The rope was not broken so I placed the new pawls and the pawl plate and also the new "C" ring. (3) replaced the spring assembly and readjusted the rope and fired it up. Starts and runs like it used to. I have to say what made this job an easier job then I thought it would be, was reading a ton of the trouble reviews so that I already had some idea what to expect. This was the first time I did this kind of repair.

1. Removed the starter housing.
2. Removed the broken parts.
3. Pulled the starter rope to its fullest extent locking it in place with vise gripes.
4. Reinstalled the starter housing on the mower and released the vise grips to allow the rope to retract.
5. One pull on the starter rope and it started on the first pull.

What I did was adjust the hook that attached to the little piece of metal in the blower housing. Then turned the recoil counter clockwise 6 times till you feel tension. Then bolt back on the housing.