Take the pull start housing off and see if any parts are broken in there like the starter drive or if it is iced up.ALWAYS check the eaasy stuff first before you panic.

 

...And when you finally figure out what the problem is, please do a follow-up post, and let us know what it was.

 

As it is just as hard to pull start it with the plug in or out your problem is not compression related so the decompressor is working as it should . Something is too tight. As mentioned by previous posters do the easy stuff first. Try removing the belt then pull start the motor see if it makes a difference. What we are doing here is to determine if the problem is in the transmission or the engine. If it's the same as before it's in the engine, if it's easier it's in the transmission.
Keep us informed.

 

One other thing comes to mind. I aquired a Cyclone 250 that the owner thought had ceased up. It turned out to be the rubber back cover seal behind the primary had pulled off and wound itself around the crank. The thing would barely turn when pulled by hand, and sometimes would not turn. replaces the seal and rear cover and all was cool.

 

Let me start off by saying thanks to all for posting possible solutions.

I pulled the pull starter off and found nothing. It worked like it should. So I decided to try and pull the clutches off. My dealer said that there is a seal behind the belt housing that may have gotten wedged on the crank and tightened it up.

fishslab, I guess this is also what you were trying to explain to me.

Well I couldn't figure out how to pull the belt off, it was really tight on the back clutch. I tried to pull it around the clutch and all of a sudden the clutch opened and freed the belt. It had previously tight, and I thought the back clutch was just a pulley because it seemed locked. Well I guess it was locked because it broke free and I was able to pull the belt off. So I thought I would try and start it. Tried with the electric start, and it would still barely turn it over. I gave the pull start a try and man was that a lot more free than before. I pull it several times and it fired. I went and got the battery out of my boat, and I'll be darned if it didn't start right up. I don't know if the cold weather froze the rear clutch or what. I do remember right before this happened, I was "brake torquing" on the snow, but it wasn't for a very long period, but this may have been the cause.

Do these clutches need to be greased in any way? How do I prevent this from happening again?

 

Take the secondary clutch apart and check the buttons and helix.

 

Don't grease the clutches. Check the spring and buttons to make sure nothing is worn out. May just be a freak happening. Jay