OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions On Briggs & Stratton Engines How do I get this apart?

Can anyone guide me on stripping and retensioning this B&S starter? I can't see how it comes apart other than the one small bolt that holds the cord guide(?) in place.

It's way too complicated to explain here, and you need the diagrams. I suggest you read the relevant pages in the manual, starting here:
http://recoveryvehicles.tpub.com/TM-5-4240-501-14P/css/TM-5-4240-501-14P_165.htm

Just click on the page title below "Next" for each new page.

Haven't seen one in along time Grumpy and aussietrev, It is vertical pull stater.

To start accessing the internals you need pry off the plastic circular cover; be careful old plastcis break easily. The complete instructions are in the Briggs Single L-head service manual under starters.

Brigg's Single L-head service manual

AVB, there are still lots of the old vertical-pull Briggs engines in regular use here - mostly 9 cubic inch, and primarily 92508 and 92908. They have been well-regarded over the years, and still are, though of course they are getting very old now having been made around 1982.

Thanks guys. Gee some companies sure know how to make things complicated. Hopefully the plastic cover comes off without falling apart. Surely a circlip would have made life much easier than having to pry off plastic bits with a screw driver.

I think the problem, if there is one, is in the fragility of the thin plastic aussietrev. In the position it is (downward-facing, completely shielded by the rest of the housing when installed on a mower) there will have been no sun damage, and that is what usually causes failure of plastics in Australia.

Please remember the warning in the instructions: unwind the cord to remove the tension from the spring before you take the cover off or do anything else, then remove the cover, but read the CAUTION part and wear safety glasses:

Thanks Grumpy but there is no way that the rope will unwind as shown, the gap between the drum and the housing is far to small and even trying to insert a blade there to open it up a bit is fruitless. So I removed the plastic, which came off easily enough and used a g clamp to hold the spring pack in place. I then loosened the centre retaining bolt and wound extra tension onto the spring with a pair of long nose pliers and retensioned the bolt. Seems to be a lot better, could probably do with another turn but it retracts pretty well now. Just have to pull the carby off now and clean it out and another mower (the Morrison from another of my posts) saved from the dump.

Thanks for that report, aussietrev. Was the starter lubricated? Seems like its weak retraction was likely to be either lack of lubrication, or not having had its spring tensioned properly in the first place. It may also have oversized rope fitted - that might explain both why it couldn't be unwound from the reel, and why it was under-tensioned.