What is the easiest way to replace the starter spring and rope on the older LB engines. I am asking about the D engines, 400. and 600 series engines. The engine is a 406 not a 604 as listed in the title.
I have the factory manuals but I have yet to have a pleasant experience doing this task.
The mower in the video is a bit different than my 5239 mower. His is much easier to access.
I think that I remember how to do mine. I have to remove the tank, metal shroud, and flywheel to gain access to the starter. Perhaps I could invert the entire engine for greater access.
Some things that are different on my engine are:
There is a wire guard that prevents the rope from jumping off of the pulley when the rope is being rewound. This guard makes preloading the starter difficult. To bend it out of the way risks breaking the solder joint. Not so good.
Whenever I remove the rope part of the pulley, the starter spring comes off as it is connected to the half of the pulley that has the rope attached. I then have to reinstall the starter spring with both halves of the pulley. Pain in neck!
My starter is located UNDER the flywheel! Can one say, out of sight? I think that in the past, I removed the flywheel to aid in access to the starter.
I was always taught that there should be NO form of LUBE used on the starter! It is to be left dry in order to function. I think that the pinion spring requires a bit of friction in order for it to function properly.
It is coming back to me now. I have to strip the 5239 down to gain access to the starter otherwise, it is pure Hell to replace the starter rope!
