My recoil had the same problem with rope breakage as everyone else. I checked everything over to make sure there were no nicks or sharp edges on the pulley and the hole/grommet in the case that the rope slides through. I replaced the rope with the aftermarket rope replacement, got a few pulls out of it, and it broke also. Seems to be breaking right at the end where it goes through the pulley and knots. OK, so went the route of the steel cable from Dennis Kirk. Same thing, a couple of pulls and it broke in the same spot as the rope. Pulley seems to be in good shape and can't really see any sharp edges of anything that may be cutting the rope, same with the grommet on the housing. I feel like I am married to this recoil starter now, lol. Anyone have any suggestions on what to look for? Has anyone ran across this same issue and what was the fix. I know I can simply replace the whole assembly minus the housing and that should do it. But if there is something simple that I might have overlooked, then let me know. Thanks!

 

The metal cable broke?!?!?!?

Something in there is causing it. I've seen them break when the grommet at the rope inlet was worn down to the metal. Couldn't see the damage to the grommet until you pulled it out but if the steel one is breaking too, you got me stumped. There has to be some wear in there somewhere causing the snaps. Take it apart and check everything, especially around the grommet area. All else fails you can find one on e-bay for about 20$ usually.

 

hey i have a 185s and my pull start just broke for the first time if you figure out a fix other than buying a new one please let me know thanks

 

Well just wanted to give everyone an update. I was able to figure out the breakage problem. I noticed that it was being nicked in the same place on the rope each time until it wore thru and broke. I marked the nicked spot on the rope with a Sharpie before it broke completely. Then I put in another piece of old rope for a test and watched for it to start nicking. WHen it did, I marked it with a Sharpie as well. Pulled and pulled until it too broke. Then I compared both ropes and found it was breaking in the same spot each and every time. Check the pulley and it looked a little odd. It had a half moon chunk missing out of the one side of the flange. Looks like it is there from the factory?? At least according to the exploded view of the recoil parts diagram. The next step was to put the pulley itself on a shaft in the vide and use a dial indicator to check runout. I noticed that when it came to the spot on the pully where the cutout is, the pulley flange was pushed in and out of round. I bent the flange back out and got almost all of the runout cleared up. I used a die grinder and ground the half moon cutout to radius the edges and take the sharpness of the angle out. Also put a medium grit sanding wheel on the die grinder and went completely around both flanges and smoothed everything out. Then for good measure, I wire wheeled all the edges and then rechecked for runout. I also smoothed out the grommet edges inside and out with a smooth radius as well as wrapped a piece of emery cloth around a steel rod and polished out the hole itself. After all that, I called it good and put the whole thing back together with a new rope. I've started it quite a few times over the last couple of weeks and have had no problems at all. And by the way, a good friend of mine who owns the local Honda Dealership told me that in all the time they worked on these bikes with the recoil starter, the saw very very few that broke the rope. He said that 99% of the time, they just last and last and never have any breakage issues with the ropes. So for anyone having rope breakage problems, do and/or check the following.

1. DOes rope always break in the same spot each time?? Mark with a Sharpie and check with a couple of ropes to verify that they all nick or break in the same place.
2. Sharp edges on the pulley flanges (outer edges). Grind out if any found.
3. Check runout with a dial indicator. Watch flanges for out of round and correct. Just think of the old vinyl records when they warped how the tone arm on the turntable would rise and fall.
4. Make sure that all edges on the pulley are smooth and not sharp.
5. Check the inside of the housing around the grommet area and sand, grind the areas where rope rides against when it is pulled. Do both the inside and outside as well as the pass thru hole too.
3. Check the half moon cutout and see if there is any sharpness. Cleanup sharp edges

Yep, I know. Sounds like a lot of fooling around. But as long as you have to take this thing apart, you might as well check everything like I did. The extra time spent was well worth it. I've learned over the years that there are only two ways to do anything. A couple of times really fast or once just a little slower. Let me know how you make out on this and please pass this along to everyone. Thanks and have a great day!!