Im willing to bet that all you will need is the rebuild kit. Also, when you go through lots of mud and water, you should drain the recoil housing to prevent this from happening. Also, be sure that yourpull starter handle is fully seated. I made that mistake myself and ended up with about a cup of muddy water in the recoil housing (It was a wet and fun ride[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img])

 

dohh.. that's why the recoil wont retract! How'd you fix that problem and is there suppose to be oil of any kind in there for lubrication?

 

aslo put some grease on the inside of the pull handel...this will help seal out the water!

 

I had that problem too. I had to take the recoil apart. Trust me, thats not fun to do. That recoil spring is a royal pain in the butt. Anyways, I took it apart, cleaned it up real good, and put it back together. I had to shorten the rope a few inches and would the spring tighter. This is definately a 2 man job!!! There isnt suppose to be any oil in there. Most likely it is muddy water with a little oil from inside the recoil housing

 

Here's a little tip I've learned over the years on the recoil starters - when removing the pulley - pull the rope out so you can get to the knot on the pulley end of the rope (ie- unwind rope from pulley) - grab the knot end of the rope and pull it outwards so you can clip the end of the knot/rope off and remove the rope from the starter - once the rope is removed, relieve the tension from the pulley/spring, then rotate the pulley opposite of winding until you hear it "click" (the spring is now disconnected from the pulley). Now you can remove the bolt that holds the pulley in and remove the pulley without losing the spring.

After cleaning the insides - grease the shaft and nylon bushing with a thin grease (white lithium?), install the pulley and turn until you feel tension of the spring (you may even hear it "click" into place) - put the plate and bolt back in that hold the pulley down - rethread the rope through the housing and pulley - knot the rope, pull the handle tight to seat the knot - then stuff it back towards the pulley enough to pull some of the rope through - there is a notch in the pulley to fit the rope into and allow you to wind spring tension until the rope will retract fully.

Always put a little grease in the bushing that is in the recoil housing for the starter drive gear before installing the recoil starter housing.