McCulloch Pro Mac 700 Recoil issues

[TheManOfStihl]

Good evening gentlemen. I have a Pro Mac 700 that was brought to me with the recoil string stuck out and will not rewind. I pulled the recoil cover and found the screw retaining the rope rotor to be loose. I began to loosen it more to remove the screw and the rope ripped back in. I pulled it a few times with the screw out a few turns, and it pulls in fine, but when I just snug the screw down, it will not retract the rope. The spring tension seems to be good. Is there something like a spacer that I might be missing? I don't have a manual for this saw and cannot find ANYTHING about the recoil system online. Pics to follow soon.

Thanks to all for reading and any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[TheManOfStihl]

Here are some pics. Recoil spring is good, was wound tight. Said it worked fine until the other day. I can't figure this one out.


Screw is tight in this pic, rotor is bound and will not retract.
Close up of the screw tight. Is there something missing here?
Loosen the screw and it retracts. Once again, it was loose like this when it came to me, but not this loose. I can't believe it has to be loose, it'd vibrate out in no time. What am I missing here?

 

[SilverKing]

Ive had a few saws do this to me,and normally it is because of a worn spot in the pulley around the mounting hole.Normally a good sanding or flat filing will fix the problem

 

[heimannm]

There should be two plastic bushings like the one you can see under the starter pulley, another inside the starter housing. My guess is the inside one is not seated properly or may be damaged and when you tighten the screw it puts the mechanism in a bind. Remove the flywheel cover with the starter housing and pull the starter shaft out to see the bushing underneath.

Mark

 

[TheManOfStihl]

Thank you both, I will check those things!

 

[TheManOfStihl]

Pulley looks good, no obvious worn spots. I will clean it up and reinspect though.

Heimannm nailed it. The bushing on the starter shaft is melted, the one close to the flywheel. Looks like that's the issue! I didn't dig into the saw far enough, I thought surely it was right in front of me in the spring housing.

Thank you both for your help, I certainly appreciate it!

 

[SilverKing]

Pulley looks good, no obvious worn spots. I will clean it up and reinspect though.

Heimannm nailed it. The bushing on the starter shaft is melted, the one close to the flywheel. Looks like that's the issue! I didn't dig into the saw far enough, I thought surely it was right in front of me in the spring housing.

Thank you both for your help, I certainly appreciate it!

Your welcome,but Heimannm knows his stuff when it comes to Macs.If ya have any more questions,just ask me.Then I will ask him lol.

 

[TheManOfStihl]

Will do, thanks!

I have had a few Macs, a pair of 250's that worked great and currently have a mini mac 6 that runs like a top. It's louder than snot but it runs good. My old man hates Macs, that's all he had back in the day to cut with, and he said you'd wear yourself out starting them and have no energy to cut wood when it finally ran. He always turns his nose up when he sees yellow saws on my bench. It's kinda funny to me, my Macs all ran good and started fairly well. This PM700 runs good according to the customer, and he's never really had much trouble with it. Dad still says it's a piece of junk lol.

 

[TheManOfStihl]

Heimannm does it again! You were absolutely correct as it was the plastic bushing under the pulley. Thank you for your help.