Reply To: Evinrude Ducktwin recoil reassembly

[Don]

Oh boy, sorry you pulled that pulley screw out of there…You could have just squirted some light weight oil into the open holes in the pulley….
Doesn’t look like there is any easy way to get that spring back in there, OMC made a rewinding tool that I’m sure you don’t have, so you are going to have to wrestle it back in….
Get some safety glasses and gloves, perhaps an assistant.
Remove the spring from the pulley, and attach the other end to the pin inside the recoil housing. Now you will just have to manually “rewind” that spring into the housing cup. The assistant can help by holding the other end of the spring so it is easier for you to guide it into the cup. Be very careful, that spring’s mission is to just pop right out of the housing, especially when you are almost done getting it all back in there.
Once the spring is back in the housing, you are faced with the tricky/dangerous/frustrating task of reconnecting the other end of the spring to the pulley. You almost need three sets of hands, even though there is no room for them…Sometimes you can lower the pulley onto the pin without lifting the end of the spring slightly, especially when it already has a bend like yours does. If not, you and your assistant will have to lift the end of the spring up and out of the cup just slightly, using your fingers, or a flat blade/something to hold the rest of the spring down in the cup…
Good luck….Don