Pull cord question

[foster]

My pull starter on my 1982/83 185s does nothing.
The rope pulls out, it retracts (slowly) but it doesn't catch when you pull it out.
Is this a hard fix?
BTW, I know there is a full set of instructions on this topic somewhere. I've seen it. Can't find it, though. IF someone can point it out to me, I'll thank you very much in advance.

[hedge1988]

its not to hard I fixed mine and Im not super mechanically inclined it has a little peice in there that flips out to catch the fly wheel, its prob broke missing or in wrong if I had to guess.

[foster]

Thanks a lot. I'll check it. I'm guessing I broke it since I gave it a real hard tug on Sunday when out in minus 25 temperatures. So it was pretty stiff and gave 'er quite a yank. Then nothing.
Hope it ain't broke!

[hedge1988]

Its still not to bad ebay has a ton of pull starters and even some rebuild kits. they are pretty inexpensive. good luck!

[foster]

I'm going to open it up tonight and have a peek.
I'm not too handy with tools so hopefully I won't do even more damage! (Yeah, I know about that darn spring thingie.)
Meanwhile, I'm sure someone here (could have been elsewhere, I suppose, but can't recall) posted a step-by-step process, with photos, on how to take this thing apart and put it back together.
Hopefully, one of the kind souls on this board will see my predicament and point me to that post.
Cheers

[foster]

its not to hard I fixed mine and Im not super mechanically inclined it has a little peice in there that flips out to catch the fly wheel, its prob broke missing or in wrong if I had to guess.
Ok, I tore it open and try various stuff and the "little piece in there that flips out" fails to flip out. If we're talking about the same "little piece," there are in fact three of them. I think they're called "pawls?"
I took them all apart, cleaned 'em up, put 'em back in and put the whole thing back together. Gave it a pull and it turned over, but only once. Now it's doing nothing again.
Took it apart again and tried pulling it slowly while watching the pawls in action and, guess what? There is no action.
I see that the place the three pawls sit inside is slightly split open in three places, that is, the metal in the area where each of the three little thingies sit has a space that doesn't look normal. I'm guessing those three spaces are either supposed to be there, or that's my problem.

If anyone can decipher what I'm talking about and edjicate me, I'd be much obliged. It just doesn't look right to me, more like something that cracked and split rather than normal spaces.
Cheers
Edited to add photo. This is what a normal mechanism (under the friction plate) looks like. Mine has a space at the bottom of each round area where the pawls sit. Kinda look like cracks, but I dunno, could be normal spaces.

[HaggLE]

take some pics...

[foster]

My digital is being lent out right now.
The pic above (we posted at the same time ha ha) is a photo of a normal housing for the pawls that a gentleman at .org posted last year. Hope I'm not breaching any rules by borrowing that photo.
Anyway, in my 185, there are spaces that stretch from below the rounded bottom of each area where the pawls sit. These spaces radiate towards the centre.
In his photo of his 200, there are no spaces. The photo is hard to see but it seems there are none. So I suspect the same piece on my pullstarter is cracking and falling apart?
Thnks again.

[Huffa]

Not realizing it, I just posted a subject on this too. My pawls come out fine but it does not retract any more. Broken spring probably. :wondering

Can't help you out till I dig into mine and get an understanding of whats going on.

[foster]

Well, I got the c-clip off easily enough, and I kept my hand on the friction plate that's underneath it so that nothing came flying off. (Obviously, I've never done this before. I was a pull-start virgin until tonight.) There was some pressure from a friction spring underneath the friction plate, but it's nothing serious and the plate was easily held on.
I gently took off the plate, then the bigger friction spring and then the three little springs and one or two of the three pawls came tumbling out. They didn't fly out; just fell out. That's fine, as long as they don't go flying onto a dirty, dusty floor. The three little springs are hard to see on a dirty garage floor, even with semi-decent light.

That's as far as I went because I'm pretty sure that's as far as I had to go to find my problem. I bet that's where you'll find your problem too. Had a devil of the time getting the C clip back on when putting it all back together. Then it suddenly just slipped back on like magic. Go figure. But really, it was a piece of cake up to that point.
Sorry, I don't have a manual either and obviously I''m no expert, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Good luck.