Strikemaster Solo - Frayed recoil string

[shnelson]

Noticed last night that my recoil string has frayed about 8" back from the handle, the nylon cord is completely separated but the inner cord is still intact.

It still pulls fine, but I imagine it's only a matter of time before the inside detaches completely.

Can anyone tell me if I would be fine just pulling 8" of string through the handle and re-tying where the rope is good, or would that be too much tension on the recoil over long term?

I was planning on replacing it, but all I can find on SM's website is the tecumseh Recoil Repair Kit #590779. Will this work for the Solo or should I call strikemaster directly to try and get the right one?

[thehawk]

I would call strikemaster myself. Just so you can make sure you get the right one. I think if you cut off 8" of rope that might get you thru until they could get you the part, but I wouldn't push it to much. I just got a new SM this year and really like it. Mine had a sticky recoil so i followed the advise on here and took it apart and sprayed it with WD40. Thanks FMers!

[shnelson]

I've got the sticky recoil too, but only when it's really cold. Was going to bathe it in wd-40 this weekend until I noticed my little problem.

I think I will give em a call for the part, the one on the site specifically says tecumseh so it probably wouldn't work. Bums me out as I just picked mine up last month and the rope is already shot. Must have rubbed up against something on a pull?

[DrKen]

I have 2 augers, one with a tc 300 tecumseh which I finally wore out and a new solo strikemaster. the recoils are entirely different. When I took the solo apart to clean it, the rewind spring popped out and when I rewound it the end broke off. Thus, off to strikemaster I went and they fixed it no charge. when you take the solo apart, be careful, the spring is contained in a metal cover against the shell. You can remove the spool with the rope and dogs and not have the spring pop out if you are careful. I obviously wasn't. If you are close to Big Lake, just go there and they will replace the rope and clean your recoil while you wait.

[shnelson]

I tried to get another day of use out of it and ended up getting the rope caught up in the recoil, wasn't happy to have this happen on the lake but it was my own fault..

I ended up pulling the assembly apart to give it a wd-40 bath and untangle it. DrKen, thanks for the heads up! That metal plate is pretty easy to knock loose if you aren't careful. I reduced the tension on the recoil spring by a turn and retied the rope a little shorter. Seems to work great, just have a somewhat shorter pull so I need to be careful, but with these engines you really don't need to give them a hard pull anyways so it should be good.

Spent the $20 that I was going to put toward the recoil kit on an auger extension for the weekend, hopefully it wasn't a poor choice .