I'm an Idiot.
If you have been following this thread then I'm sorry...I'm really really sorry for asking as many questions and flooding the page with so many pics. And here's why.
I tore the saw apart, bought a flywheel puller, only to find the woodruff key was fine. Poked things I probably shouldn't have been poking. added a new kill switch, well, just in case. Clean everything that needed cleaning and stuck it all back together. Only to discover it was still hard to pull. #*"@##!!!
2 weeks of watching videos and reading up on saw maintenance, endless hours spent searching for service manuals and parts to no avail. Stuck the machine back together, fired some DW 40 into the cylinder and left it an hour.
Tried again to pull it over. Still hard to pull. Pulled the spark plug boot, still hard to pull...
Finally, before I gave up altogether and tossed it I decided to just go for it one last time and really put my back into it with the boot off...Hell, If I snap something I snap it, Doesn't matter, The saws got problems and parts are obsolete. lesson learned and move on.
Well, low and behold it felt easy to pull. So spark plug boot back on and give it some welly on the pull cord. Boom!!!, No hard pull and no backfire, Running like a champ.
I've stopped and started this machine all day. I can actually pull on it now without having to put my foot on the handle to hold it down...Here's the kicker. Turns out the problem was Me. I have been pulling it like a big girls arse. Probably because I got a bit scared the first time it backfired and psychologically wasn't pulling hard enough just in case I might hurt my fingy wingys again.
So once again, So sorry to bust your balls with questions and multi pics. I let that backfire get into my head. Maybe a lesson for all those,(and I'm not the only one) with questions on hard to pull saws.
Put yer back into it and dont be such a Big Girls Arse.
btw, is the engine running a bit rich?
New Plug. Then again maybe just the result of the engine burning off the WD 40.