Husky Rancher 44 Recoil Issue

[Stuart Bowen]

Hey fellas, I am a newbie on here. I am a long time tinkerer and have recently started messing with saws after giving up my radio control hobby. I bought a husqvarna rancher 44 from a yard sale for $10 that ran badly. After a very thorough cleaning and disassembly, I am close to having it completely the way that I want it. However, I am having one problem. When I pull the recoil starter, it does not want to rewind. It is almost like it is catching on something. If I loosed the screws that hold the starter to the chassis it works fine. Any ideas on what is making it hang? I can fix it with washers, I would just like to put it back correctly.

 

[HarleyT]

Can you put up a pic of the starter? Pulley side. Also one of the flywheel.

Try setting the starter in place, then pull the rope while holding it in place and see if it sits down into place , then tighten the screws.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I realize this is a vintage thread, but I thought best to respond because I ran into the same problem last week. A 2019 Husqvarna 450 Rancher arrived in my shop with a recoil starter that would not recoil the pull cord. It really did take awhile for me to figure this one out, and I could be wrong. I replaced the big vertical recoil spring, but that failed to solve anything.

I believe somebody else tried to repair the entire recoil assembly with 450E parts. So, it would not return the pull cord with those parts. It growled and groaned while being pulled and the pull cord went all the way out and locked up while extended. I tried several in-house shop fixes to get it to accept the big coil spring that makes it an "Easy Start", but that failed. The owner actually broke apart that big coil spring in frustration while trying to start the engine. In desperation, the owner gave the saw to me to fix.

I think a standard 450 Rancher starter assembly should work OK, so I ordered one even though several parts seem operational on this assembly and do not have to be replaced.

Any other suggestions? TIA.

 

[rupedoggy]

Will this work for a Jackson? Mike

 

[Wood Doctor]

Will this work for a Jackson? MikeView attachment 999174View attachment 999175

Good Pic. The inside parts are the ones I ordered. The assembly that does not work is what I ran into:

That big coil assist spring requires a different outer cover that I believe the Husky 450E has but the Rancher I am working on does not. It also prevents the cover from bolting down properly and the pull cord does not return as it should.

 

[rupedoggy]

Yea that's why I offered you this

 

[Wood Doctor]

Yea that's why I offered you this

What gets me is that those parts I found on board would never have worked. The big coil spring had actually broken apart in three pieces, likely from user frustration. I believe somebody tried to install a complete assembly and it failed. I erroneously assumed that all it needed was a new big spring.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Fixed! My diagnosis was correct. Somebody tried to fix this Husky 450 Rancher with 450e recoil parts that were useless and somehow ended up snapping the big coil spring while trying to start it. I removed those parts and replaced them with typical 450 recoil parts. That worked and the saw starts and runs today like the day it was bought. Cheers!