How's your rope?

Not your 550 cord, nor any other type of cordage you have. How's the rope on your generators pull start? This popped into my mind when my lawnmowers rope broke on the second pull of the summer season. Do you have a spare and do you know how to replace it? Just one of those "in case" things to think about. I love this forum, been lurking forever and finally had a thought I considered worth posting.

Welcome Newguy!

Definatly something I havn't thought about, but couldn't 550 work?

Welcome Newguy!

The only starter rope I ever had to replace was on an old lawn mower that I used as a "professional" lawnmower when I was in high school. I mowed lawns every day after school, and on weekends. Went thru a lot of starter ropes. It was kinda tricky replacing the rope, a spring clip, four little ball bearings that had to fit into their little slots while you stuck a gizmo down on a shaft in the middle of them. Not all that hard once you learned the trick, but the first time was intersting...

550 should- my brother replaced the pull cord on his chain saw with some.

550 is pretty handy stuff. I wouldn't rappel down a cliff with it, but for minor repairs it often works. It does have some stretch to it though, which might not make it excellent pull rope.

Ranter, Welcome to the fire Newguy. Great first post.

When I was growing up we had a riding lawnmower (Try-built, I think) that used a crank to start it. Dad ended up replacing the crank mechanism with a pull-cord system after I, uh, well never mind what I did with it. The point is if you can convert a lawn mower engine from a crank to a pull-cord, can you switch a generator's pull-cord to a crank? A quick google search didn't pull anything up.

-Blast

You blew up a crank starter???

550 cord, excellent stuff that it is, is not always the best choice.

Various reasons: Too big, too strong, not strong enough.

I carry 1mm woven plumbers cord in my kits for the little jobs.

Maybe we should compare notes with what I managed to do to a pull start mini dirt bike as a kid LOL. I know some lawnmowers have a specific length rope for certain models. Not sure about generators, anyone have any idea? Mine is at my cabin so I can't just run out and read the owners manual.

IIRC, starter rope is a tight braided dacron cord. Has good abrasion resistance and doesn't stretch. When needed any rope of a similar OD will work. If you want a spare rope any hardware or lawn equipment store should have the right stuff. It's not expensive so buy 10 feet and have enough for next time.

As far as pulling apart your recoil starter, as OBG said it is "intersting" the first time. Different manufacturers make different mechanicals, some are easy. Can do one of those in 5 minutes, others make you swear that you are not going to touch another one of these things ever again.

The best bet is to purchase the specified replacement, or take the old one off first and measure it.

I hadn't thought of this since my college years, although your question reminded me of the time that I replace the pull starter on my parent's lawnmower and had to make do with a shorter one that the local dealer had in stock. Everything worked fine, although a week later when I went to start the mower again (and wasn't focused on the fact that the rope was shorter than originally) I nearly broke my fingers when the starter stopped a foot and a half before I was expecting it to.

Jim

My plumbing skills are terrible. A ten minute job takes me three hours. So I'm pretty ignorant.

But what do plumbers use cord for?

Im with you on that one! WE can jsut be ignorant together, untill someone helps us out (hint hint!!)

Are you speaking about packing? It's like cord, usually square in cross-section. You can put packing cord into valves and joints to make them watertight or close to it.