[belgian_snapper]

:help:

Hi,

I have this awesome snapper with a wisconsin robin engine (1988) which is still doing an excellent job!!
BUT when I tried to get it started yesterday, the pull cord wouldn't wind up automatically anymore. So I opened the recoil starter and found some pieces were loose in it? Anyways, I got a bit clumsy ... so it all fell apart, flat spring inclusive (bummer)!

Can someone please help me put it back together?

It's a Wisconsin Robin engine model ‘ey20v’, but after doing some research I believe it's an ‘ec13v’ because the drawings in the service manual of the ‘ec13v’ are more correct than those of the ‘ey20v’.

I also have some pictures of how I think it should be assembled, but I’m not sure they’re correct. Also, the flat spring is out of place, if someone knows a handy trick to put it back in place, please let me know!!

Thank you!!

Greetings from Belgium!

Liesbeth

 

[Mark / Ohio]

Welcome to the forum Liesbeth!

I don't have any first hand experience with these but I found some service manuals here:

Subaru Robin - Dealer Manuals

Take a look starting at page 54 (58 in Adobe viewer) in this one and see if it helps:

http://www.robinamerica.com/media/manuals/128898075482130000.pdf

 

[MowerManster]

Late answer re position of torsion spring for starter ratchet

I came across Liesbeth's July 2012 posting about the proper placement of parts in the "hub" of the recoil mechanism when I was trying to figure out how to get mine back together again. Not sure if Liesbeth ever figured it out, but by trial and error, I determined that the parts layout in the leftmost picture on the second row of Liesbeth's photos was wrong. The way it appears, the "friction spring" is placing outward tension on the rachet. When I reassembled mine this way (before I checked MyLawnmowerForum.com) the engine would start and the cord would recoil, but the extended ratchet against the "starting pully" caused a constant ringing sound when the mower was running.

The initial fault was all my own because I did not make a diagram of the friction spring position when I first removed the friction plate (the ~1.25" flanged washer like thing that is held to the center of the recoil by a 10mm nut).

After searching high and low and trying to reassemble in different ways, I discovered that the purpose of the torsion spring is not to push the ratchet out, but to make sure in comes back into the nylon reel when the cord is released after a full pull (and presumably when the engine has started).

If you have the recoil mechanism on your workbench it will be upside down (in comparison to how it would be if still bolted to the engine). And if you have removed the 10mm nut and the so-called friction plate, below that plate you will see the nylon take-up reel. The friction spring has two arms. Place the spring on the center bolt (mine had a bushing that fit on the bolt to make sure the spring rotated freely) with the straight arm down, against the reel. Then the other arm of the spring--the one that has a U-shaped end, will be on top, and it should be placed against the back, narrow and rounded end of the ratchet. When positioned this way, even if the spring does not seem under any particular tension, it will be sufficient to push the ratchet back into the housing when the reel springs on rewind.

In any case, the following pictures shows the position of the spring after I got the thing working again. I hope this helps anyone else lucky enough to get one of these Snappers with a Wisconsin Robin.

:help:

Hi,

I have this awesome snapper with a wisconsin robin engine (1988) which is still doing an excellent job!!
BUT when I tried to get it started yesterday, the pull cord wouldn't wind up automatically anymore. So I opened the recoil starter and found some pieces were loose in it? Anyways, I got a bit clumsy ... so it all fell apart, flat spring inclusive (bummer)!

Can someone please help me put it back together?

It's a Wisconsin Robin engine model 'ey20v', but after doing some research I believe it's an 'ec13v' because the drawings in the service manual of the 'ec13v' are more correct than those of the 'ey20v'.

I also have some pictures of how I think it should be assembled, but I'm not sure they're correct. Also, the flat spring is out of place, if someone knows a handy trick to put it back in place, please let me know!!

Thank you!!

Greetings from Belgium!

Liesbeth

 

[stuart80112]

I came across Liesbeth's July 2012 posting about the proper placement of parts in the "hub" of the recoil mechanism when I was trying to figure out how to get mine back together again. Not sure if Liesbeth ever figured it out, but by trial and error, I determined that the parts layout in the leftmost picture on the second row of Liesbeth's photos was wrong. The way it appears, the "friction spring" is placing outward tension on the rachet. When I reassembled mine this way (before I checked MyLawnmowerForum.com) the engine would start and the cord would recoil, but the extended ratchet against the "starting pully" caused a constant ringing sound when the mower was running.

The initial fault was all my own because I did not make a diagram of the friction spring position when I first removed the friction plate (the ~1.25" flanged washer like thing that is held to the center of the recoil by a 10mm nut).

After searching high and low and trying to reassemble in different ways, I discovered that the purpose of the torsion spring is not to push the ratchet out, but to make sure in comes back into the nylon reel when the cord is released after a full pull (and presumably when the engine has started).

If you have the recoil mechanism on your workbench it will be upside down (in comparison to how it would be if still bolted to the engine). And if you have removed the 10mm nut and the so-called friction plate, below that plate you will see the nylon take-up reel. The friction spring has two arms. Place the spring on the center bolt (mine had a bushing that fit on the bolt to make sure the spring rotated freely) with the straight arm down, against the reel. Then the other arm of the spring--the one that has a U-shaped end, will be on top, and it should be placed against the back, narrow and rounded end of the ratchet. When positioned this way, even if the spring does not seem under any particular tension, it will be sufficient to push the ratchet back into the housing when the reel springs on rewind.

In any case, the following pictures shows the position of the spring after I got the thing working again. I hope this helps anyone else lucky enough to get one of these Snappers with a Wisconsin Robin.
View attachment 7177

Three years later.... May 2016... thanks for taking the time to document the solution. I just hit exactly the same problem on a non-running machine I adopted. The rope was fully pulled out and when I looked inside, the nylon spool was actually snapped where the rope attaches. After ordering a new spool I then could not figure out how to get it back together. Things were made even worse because the spring had been deformed by the previous owner yanking until he broke the spool and bent the spring! Your picture allowed me to figure out where things should go and told me how to re-form the spring by bending the arms until it looked approximately like your image.

I have not got the starter back on the engine yet. I will do that tomorrow. But as I play with the recoil starter I see that the pawl is popping out when I pull the rope and retracting when I release. A good sign! Here's a picture of the machine, the broken spool and the results of an ultrasound carb clean.

Thanks again

 

[stuart80112]

I bought a new spool

In hindsight, I didn't need to. I could have glued the old pieces back together and then drilled a hole for the rope knot in a STRONG part of the spool.

In this picture, the black line shows the weak area that has been glued back together. The "X" is a good strong place to drill a new hole for the rope to pass through and tie a knot.

Oh well, I guess I have a spare now.