Reply To: 1980S Evinrude 7.5 re-coil problems

[Don]

OK, so you have removed the interlock, so that is not an issue. From what I can see in your picture, the aluminum rope guide seems to be correctly positioned indicating you have the top bolted down correctly….
The other issue I was referring to is a little plastic bushing that fits in between the white plastic pulley and the lower spring retainer plate. You mention the “fork” at the bottom of the pulley that retains one end of the spring, so I’m not sure we are talking about the same thing….
So, you loosen the bolts just slightly, then the rewind works fine. That seems to indicate that there is no the plastic rope drum has no end play between the upper and lower starter brackets. This seems counter to what I would think, I would have thought that wear over the years would increase end play. But, these are plastic parts and may have warped or expanded somehow. I guess the simplest thing to do is try to wobble the while rope pulley up and down vertically to see if our guess is correct (with the bolts tightened).
Again, did this issue just occur? Or did it occur after you had the starter apart for some reason, including just moving it aside to remove the carb….
Finally, is this engine used in salt water? If so, you will want to consider pulling the powerhead to inspect/change the upper water tube grommet….It is important to get these gearcases off frequently, the driveshaft splines love to seize up into the crankshaft. Fortunately, gearcase removal/installation is easy on these engines because there is no shift rod connector to mess with…