Help !Recoil wont engage ! Why not ?

[tri guy]

It Was working fine one moment, then the engine did a kickback, (Ripped the recoil from my hand OUCH ) and now it doesn't work !Even when I give it a quick SNAP, which almost ALWAYS engages the "dogs ".I tore it partially open to make sure the springs and dogs are OK and they were, put it back together , and its still the same ! It seems like after I install the spring, washer, and e clip ,its to tight to turn and engage the friction plate. which engages the dogs, correct ? I don't get it! I do know its super tough to hold down the friction plate the install the washer and Eclip. Now what ? should I dig into the recoil more ?? Did I put too much Kroil on it? Would that prevent things from working right? Help !

[tri guy]

Also it is a 1984 red 200s

[tri guy]

OK before I got a bunch of "opinions" I figured it out myself . The reason the dogs wouldn't engage is because the dog housing cracked when it backfired on me. The pressure was great enough to separate the inside of the housing where it was spot welded from the factory,causing the one dog grove to raise up explaining the trailprotrailprotrailprotrailprotrailpro of a time installing the E clip. I tried to take a pic it but was too small to see clearly. So heres to ME !!

[delaswim]

Good job diagnosing the problem. When I rebuilt my pull start assembly, I noticed my dog house was cracked too.