1976 ATC90 pull cord keeps breaking!

[shwine617]

I have a 76 atc90 and the pull cord keeps breaking in about 10 pulls after i change it. It keeps breaking in the same spot, about 2 inches from the end of the knot inside the cover. I can find any sharp spots, I am not sure what it causeing this.
any help is appreciated, thanks!

[rdlsz24]

You can use a steel cable if you can't figure out why it is breaking.

Rob

[shwine617]

i was thinking that, do you think it needs to be like plastic coated?

[rdlsz24]

I would think coated or uncoated would work.

Rob

[atctim]

how long is the cord when you pull it the whole way out - and what material is it?

If it is too short and it is a cotton type rather than nylon - this will happen alot.

[Vealmonkey]

If your cable keeps breaking in the same spot, then all that would happen with the steel cable is it acts like a saw blade. You really need to find the source of your problem. It could be something as simple as winding the cord the wrond way or what have you, but not fixing the problem will just mean it willl crop up and be worse with a steel cable.

[daniel_250r]

i ran the same rope for a while on my 200s, i bought nylon rope and got some old car wax and waxed the bejusus out of it and put wax on all contact surfaces, i rode this trike through deep water all the time and was constantly haveing to restart it and it never broke and i never used the decompresser

[shwine617]

i am using a really nice nylon rope, and i almost filling the reel with it. I've used it before on other bikes without a problem. seems like something is actually cutting it. I took a peice of plastic coated cable from my old pool cover and that seems to be working really well. started it alot today and it working great so far. I really don't know what it's rubbing on.

thanks for the input everyone

[smvorndran]

You have to be careful with coated cable because the coating will come off with friction, and then you really have a mess. Also, steel cable will rip the heck out of your housing as stated above. You have to use the right kind of pull rope. I bought some nylon rope at the hardware store that was very similar to the original, but not quite the same. It broke in 2 pulls. I just bought some from my Honda dealer's Parts Unlimited catalog, and it was $2.50 for 6 foot of #6 pull rope. It works great. There's just something about genuine pull rope for ATCs. The stuff at the hardware store was more for weedwackers.

Good luck!
smvorndran