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Collection, Preservation and Display of Old Lawn Mowers

Recoil spring issues

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I'm struggling with the starter cord not recoiling after being pulled.  Everything has had a strip, clean and re-grease.  Attached is a pic of the spring - is it possible that it has stretched somehow or lost (reduced) its spring constant such that it's not as strong as before?  Not really sure how to tell.

Any help gratefully received.

 

Forums

chirpy999 Tue, 16/09/2025

Hi , youve not said what mower it is , looks like a Suffolk Atco or modern Qualcast or is it something else?

From my experience this design of starter is the work of  the devil!! Spent a lot of time rewinding this type of recoil starter. On a working Qualcast Ive gone to the old style starter with a peg and quadrant its a massive improvement.

villiers98 Wed, 17/09/2025

This is a starter off an Atco or Suffolk pre 1970 ish?

First the outside end of the spring should be carefully folded with needle nose pliers to hook over the alloy case else it will just unwind under tension.

Secondly reassemble the starter noting the cut out on the centre boss , and hooking the inner end of spring on the starter pulley,with the rope wound round the pulley. Ensure the pulley  is free to turn

Finally to tension the spring, hook the rope out between the pulley  and the exit of the cover and wind it two turns round the pulley. Then carefully pull the rope right out and check the pulley will turn further  1/4 turn ( so as to check the spring is not coil bound. _) Refit to engine. A drop of oil on the engaging pin and the face of the pulley " teeth" helps it work smoothly. The rope should be about 3o inches long

villiers98 Thu, 18/09/2025

As an edit to my second paragraph the spring should have a loop to go over the peg on the alloy casing. 

This can be seen to the right of the existing spring end. You may need a new spring. Do not remove the spring without the steel dish and wear eye protection.

Mowing Wurzel Sat, 20/09/2025

The Readers Digest  BASIC GUIDE  - The Use and Care LAWN MOWERS  our copy of which was published in 1975; is a great book.

These two pages are great for a crash course on those troublesome plastic Suffolk Recoils.

v8alex Sat, 20/09/2025

Awesome comments - many thanks and I am happy to say I managed to sort the issue out.  Yes, it is the work of the devil for sure.  The main problem I had was to forget to pre-tension the spring, so it had no oomph to retract.  Then I over (under?) did it so ran out of spring and ripped it out of the retaining lugs.  I also hadn't looped it over the peg.

Anyway, after about twenty combinations of spring tension, orientation, rope length I got there.

Oh - and it's from a Suffolk Super Punch 17".

Thanks again - Alex