Help, pull cord broke...

[94fordguy]

So I went out to start up the old 800 and the pull rope broke about a foot from the handle.... What do I do now? I have never touched the motor of this sled so I have no idea what I am doing.... Do I just pull the cover off and throw a new one on there or is there anything else I need to do while I am in there?

How much 'pre-load' do I need to put on the spring for it to work right?

Any help is appreciated, Thanks

 

[skibreeze]

I had one come apart on me years ago, it was a mother to reassemble. You need to try to get the rope end w/o disassembling it. Try to rewind it with the rope end. You need enough tension to pull in about 4-5' of the rope.

 

[Scott]

If you ran it after the rope broke there is a good chance you knocked the water pump belt off too.

You gotta get in there and make sure it's all still together. AND if you ran it very long you'll need to replace that belt ASAP.

I came out 15 mi without a water pump because of that one day.

 

[06 RMK 900]

wow seth you have not had to much luck that last week. First the bolt now this...Actually you got really lucky with that bolt.

 

[94fordguy]

In all hones1ty, it actually wasn't me that broke the rope, I had the sled over at a buddies neighbors house to get the steering post welded up from an incident a few weeks ago, but he has been too busy to fix it so I wanted to bring it home... when I got there to load it up, I saw the handle sitting on the running board, but the sled had not been moved from where I parked it a month ago... (in perfect working order)... so I am thinking that it has not been started at all. (I drug it onto the trailer by hand and unloaded it by hand also).

I decided to pull the motor completely to get access to a loose joint at the base of the steering post that I have been meaning to attend to, and wound up pulling the post completely... probably gonna just have to get a new one from the looks of it.

Back to the pull rope... sounds fairly straight forward as long as I take everything apart cautiously eh? How long is the rope supposed to be?

Thanks

 

[Scott]

DON'T unwind that spring if you can help it. LOL

REGARDLESS of what they've already heard, your walls will learn new words. LOL


Next time tie a knot in that rope so next time it breaks it doesn't go back inside.

 

[RMKED]

If you pull the cover you should be able to see the end of the rope. Grab it with a pair of needle nose pliers and fish it back through the hole. (While the cover is off, it is a good time to inspect and replace the water pump belt). Tie a knot in it and put it back on the motor. The spring shoud recoil as long as you don't dissasemble it. I had to learn the hard way to tie a not under the handle so if the rope breaks it will stop at the recoil cover.
Pulling the cover off an XLT is a royal PITA!

Good luck!

 

[skibreeze]

2 Things, get one of those high strength ropes, and champher the handle hole.

 

[94fordguy]

It didn't break at the handle, it broke about a foot from the end where the wire guide holds it in front of the brake rotor.... Nice that they learned from that and put an actual wheel there on the newer sleds to distribute the load... doesn't help me here tho...

 

[AndrettiDog]

As others have said, get the other end out. I had the knotted end get in and break my water pump belt on a ride which lead to a blown motor. I didn't realize the water pump belt was exposed at the time. It doesn't hurt to get that belt while you are in there anyway.

 

[m8magicandmystery]

regular pull cord inspection is as important as gas and oil..

 

[north-land]

When assembling the starter, I always put some RTV on and around the pull chord knot where it tucks into the nylon recoil housing. I've heard this lessens the chance that the broken rope will damage the water pump belt.

I can't remember where I read to do this. It may be an old wive's tale.

 

[WestMont]

When assembling the starter, I always put some RTV on and around the pull chord knot where it tucks into the nylon recoil housing. I've heard this lessens the chance that the broken rope will damage the water pump belt.

I can't remember where I read to do this. It may be an old wive's tale.

X2. I've always done the same.

Also when the rope breaks it will sometimes rewind back in too fast and damage the recoil spring by going beyond it's relaxed position and then continue to wind the spring backwards. If that happens buy a new spring because if you try to straighten the spring's bent end back out it will normally just break the spring.

 

[94fordguy]

Well I got the rope replaced and also replaced the water pump belt while I was at it... the old belt looked good as new, but I already bought a new one so I threw it on there anyway.

As for the spring, I had no idea what I was doing so I played around with it for a while, then it exploded and I tried to figure out wtf to do with it, haha. I got it back in properly and basically guessed it back together, actually a pretty simple process now that I look back on it I got a new rope on there, put some RTV in the knot holder and made sure to wind the spring just enough to pull the entire rope back in, then cycled it a few times to make sure everything was good... looks like I got her back together good

Thanks for the help guys.....

 

[AndrettiDog]

As for the spring, I had no idea what I was doing so I played around with it for a while, then it exploded and I tried to figure out wtf to do with it, haha.

Been there, done that. Channel locks and vise grip pliers!

 

[94fordguy]

Been there, done that. Channel locks and vise grip pliers!

hahaha, not a bad idea really... but I actually did it all by hand... wasn't bad at all..... I just got the spring back in there and then dropped the plastic housing on top of it. gave it 1 full turn of tension, fed the rope back through the hole and bolted her down.. worked great