Starter and Pull Cord - Not Working!

mdkuni

mdkuni

New member
Joined
Apr 7, 2004
Messages
250
Location
Houghton Lake, MI
We have a 98 Vmax XT 600 that we pulled into a heated garage Firday night to replace the rear shock. The sled was tipped half on its side to replace the shock. The next day it was rode about 70 miles or so. After the trip I tried to start the sled with the electric start. The starter just spins like mad but will not engage. So I went to use the pull start and I pulled the cord out and it would not retract! You can get probably less then a quarter of a pull out of the cord now because it hangs out so far. Does anyone have any ideas for either of these problems?

I was thinking it may have froze but I left the sled in the garage that night and the next day there was the same results.
 
mdkuni said:
We have a 98 Vmax XT 600 that we pulled into a heated garage Firday night to replace the rear shock. The sled was tipped half on its side to replace the shock. The next day it was rode about 70 miles or so. After the trip I tried to start the sled with the electric start. The starter just spins like mad but will not engage. So I went to use the pull start and I pulled the cord out and it would not retract! You can get probably less then a quarter of a pull out of the cord now because it hangs out so far. Does anyone have any ideas for either of these problems?

I was thinking it may have froze but I left the sled in the garage that night and the next day there was the same results.
Click to expand...

Mabie the ring gear on the starter is stuck or the spring on the starter
that returns the gear is broke.

The pull cord just pull the housing off and see whats wrong,, replace the
sping and rewind.
 
I have never touched the housing for the pull cord. When I take it apart do I need to worry about the spring unwinding violently? How hard is it to put back together? If anyone could explain in detail how to do this, I would appreciate it. Thanks.
 
daman said:
Once you get the housing off it's pretty self explanatory.

No... nothing will fly out on ya.:)
Click to expand...

Good! Thanks. Now the question is how hard is it to get to the: once you get the housing off step? Is there anything that needs to be disconnected before it is removed inside the sled?
 
just did this Thursday in Gaylord out side 23 degrees! standing in 8" of new powder! I had to take off the coolant hose , the one that kind of bends right infront of the recoil, also the brace that bolts the brake assembly to the front of the sled & the silencer & just rolled the muffler out of my way! I stripped mine, would not recoil either! Bought a second one just incase this happend the second one did not engage every time so I did the hard pull no resistance back flip!
mdkuni said:
Good! Thanks. Now the question is how hard is it to get to the: once you get the housing off step? Is there anything that needs to be disconnected before it is removed inside the sled?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Did you get the starter motor to work?
Usually when they just spin there is something on on the shaft in the way of the gear. I'd hit it with some brake cleaner and wipe it down with a brush and a rag. It's in a real dirty area there next to the primary clutch and if you trailer it on an open trailer the road grime adds to the issue.
 
The sled is up north so I have not worked on it yet. I will try and clean the shaft on the starter though. That would be a nice easy fix. To bad I did not know of this earlier as we had the y pipe off this weekend to put the engine mount bolts back on! I hope it works. Thanks for all the help.
 
You should be able to clean off the starter snout without taking parts off. If you can't reach it though try a long brush. Sometimes the Quarter (now more like $1.75) Car Wash will help.
 
I took the recoil out and the springs were messed up. I took it to the dealer and they rebuilt it for me. Is there an easy way to remove the coolant hose that is in the way of the recoil without making a mess? :o|

As far as the starter goes we tried to clean it and it still is not working. The only way you can get it to engage is if you apply pressure to it while it it starts to spin then it will kick out. Not sure what is going on.
 
Those recoil springs are fun. Broke one last year, and broke the plastic rewind this year. Not sure why i have so many recoil problems, lol.
 
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