repairing damaged recoil on small displacement shrouds from the mini bike era

markus

Well-Known Member
#1
Today I am digging out my Briggs parts from the backyard shed to go through....It's "shit or get off the pot" day:) I am starting with the small displacement ones, I only care about pre 1970 3hp and parts for of course, the rest go to the curb.

I have a 1968 3hp that was original to a Taco thats been in pieces forever. The shroud was pretty nice but the recoil had all the tabs except one that secures the recoil mech broken off it. So I found a 2hp stamped shroud to mess with to see if I could maybe use as a donor for the Taco shroud....started with the 2hp one first since it would just go in the garbage anyway ;)

On the right is the 2hp donor shroud, I just used a grinding disc on an angled die grinder to work the metal down and pop the spot welds, then cleaned the feet off recoil after it was off the shroud. this left face side of the feet undamaged and stock looking still

left is the recoil off the 1968 shroud, I drilled the spot welds through on it so I would have just clean holes under the feet.



Note the weld spots seen in random spots on the shroud were my "test" spots to get my speed and power pretty close......I'm not a great welder and I haven't been working out in the shop for quite a few months so I figured I better practice a little.



after getting the feet of the donor recoil flat and the shroud face smooth I clamped the recoil in the right spot and puddle welded in the holes to secure the recoil to the shroud.



Not the prettiest thing underneath, especially after grinding the high spots down (a real welder would not have had high spots :) )

On the face side it came out pretty nice, since I didn't drill through the dimples, the fact that Its been repaired wont be noticeable after paint work. Thankfully I didn't burn any holes through or anything like that so prep for paint will be minimal!!!!

 
#2
Good work...now the fun part: Winding the new spring in correctly and not having it spin out several times.:) To followers of this thread, the Briggs manual is not real clear on how what direction to wind the spring (if you're reusing an old but good spring). A old, broken starter pawl is the best to use to wind and I use a small c-clamp to hold things in place when necessary.
 

markus

Well-Known Member
#3
Good work...now the fun part: Winding the new spring in correctly and not having it spin out several times.:) To followers of this thread, the Briggs manual is not real clear on how what direction to wind the spring (if you're reusing an old but good spring). A old, broken starter pawl is the best to use to wind and I use a small c-clamp to hold things in place when necessary.
I've never had too many problems with the recoils, Briggs aren't as easy as a Tecumseh is, but they are pretty simple if you use common sense......it can only go into the houseing and be wound one way ;). I use a zip tie to get the wound down spring back into the housing and snip it off once is down in there. Hardest part is keeping as much as you can in place while locking the inner part to the hub since you have to pull it up to get it into the hub, and then gently winding it back down enough that the spring goes back into shape. Once you got that done, and the retainers and buttons pushed back into place you cant really really knock it back out of place. Wind it up, feed the rope through, check you have enough recoil, and your done.

All media blasted, Dents hammered and smoothed out, etch primed, starter installed (gotta find the box that has some good handles in it still) I found another 1968 80202 shroud/engine in a box I didnt even know I had!!!! And there is a 1967 shroud soaking in in the tank right now.....of course what I could use is a 1969.....Never fails I never have what I really need :mad:



 

markus

Well-Known Member
#8
Karen let me know, I haven't pulled the 67 stamped one out of the soak tank yet, but it looked pretty straight going in. My Mickey bike is the last version so it should be a 1969. I had saved a '69 5hp shroud for it but may just build another 3hp for it instead like I had originally...should have just kept that motor :rolleyes::


 
#9
Good work...now the fun part: Winding the new spring in correctly and not having it spin out several times.:) To followers of this thread, the Briggs manual is not real clear on how what direction to wind the spring (if you're reusing an old but good spring). A old, broken starter pawl is the best to use to wind and I use a small c-clamp to hold things in place when necessary.
Briggs recoil springs are super simple to wind. I posted this way back someplace too. Let me try to explain it again.

Use a C clamp to fasten the shroud to the bench. Wipe the dirt and critters off the spring and the recoil area. Remove the rope, you will put it back in later, preferably a new rope. Slip the end of the spring into the housing through the slot, outside in, you just need a few inches or so. Connect the spring end into the rope spool. Twist the spool a little pushing it down into the pocket, bend the tabs back down. You now have the spool in place, connected to the spring, the spring in mainly sticking out of the housing, through the slot. Put a 1" socket adapter into the clutch hole, they usually fit a 1/2" ratchet extension. Use the ratchet to twist/wind the spring, it will draw itself into the housing. Twist till the spring is all the way in, then twist it a few more times. Slip the rope into the housing, through the rope hole and into the rope slot, pull it through and make a knot. Pull out the 1" adaptor and the rope pulls back in.

Back in the day, I used to be able to replace the spring and the rope in less than 5 minutes. Super fast and simple. I have never seen ant recoil easier than a Briggs.
 

markus

Well-Known Member
#10
Briggs recoil springs are super simple to wind. I posted this way back someplace too. Let me try to explain it again.

Use a C clamp to fasten the shroud to the bench. Wipe the dirt and critters off the spring and the recoil area. Remove the rope, you will put it back in later, preferably a new rope. Slip the end of the spring into the housing through the slot, outside in, you just need a few inches or so. Connect the spring end into the rope spool. Twist the spool a little pushing it down into the pocket, bend the tabs back down. You now have the spool in place, connected to the spring, the spring in mainly sticking out of the housing, through the slot. Put a 1" socket adapter into the clutch hole, they usually fit a 1/2" ratchet extension. Use the ratchet to twist/wind the spring, it will draw itself into the housing. Twist till the spring is all the way in, then twist it a few more times. Slip the rope into the housing, through the rope hole and into the rope slot, pull it through and make a knot. Pull out the 1" adaptor and the rope pulls back in.

Back in the day, I used to be able to replace the spring and the rope in less than 5 minutes. Super fast and simple. I have never seen ant recoil easier than a Briggs.

Nice! that's even easier than the way I've done it for the past few years!!! I never even thought to feed it through the outside hole and wind it in, I am so used to just having the springs wound up already and zip tied up when I tear an engine apart to rebuild (the entire engine) that I just always install them from the inside compressed. Gonna let the spring go free on the next one and give that way a shot, theres no tension on the spring to contend with as opposed to the way I am used to doing them....I like that!!!
 
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