I have a Murray/Briggs 6.0 engine mower and the pull cord is sticking. It will stop after pulling about 4 inches. Then if I jiggle the pull cord it will extend another 4 inches. I can see a plastic piece that seems to be stopping it at every four inches. What is causing this and what is the repair for it?



The rope actually isn't tangled... it does feed out as I jiggle the handle, but then it catches. There appears to be a plastic piece that catches every couple of inches that prevents the rope from extending any further without doing the jiggling routine. The cover to the reel has 4 rivets. Is there a special tool that these come off with?

Thanks.

You have to do a little more digging, take the cover off that covers the rope / pull mechanism on top of the mower, a few screws on top and maybe a few on the side of the engine, note where the screws go back and how the cover comes off, see if you can now see the exposed rope, I can't remember and don't know your specific model, but be careful when lifting off cover type parts, lots of mowers use a metal band that sort of winds up tight, if you do see a metal band, before you take it off note how it is engaged to the side of housing, you will have to put it back remember and need to remember how it came off and was attached. Make sure the cord is not tangled as that's probably why it won't pull out. Hope this helps, you sort of have to take it from there, it's one of those things easier said than done.

Thank you. The rope actually isn't tangled... it does feed out as I jiggle the handle, but then it catches. There appears to be a plastic piece that catches every couple of inches that prevents the rope from extending any further without doing the jiggling routine. The cover to the reel has 4 rivets. Is there a special tool that these come off with?

Rivets ? On my Craftsman (Briggs engine) I simply unscrewed the screws using a "nutdriver", I am surprised you see "rivets", the rope issue is a pretty common problem and I can't understand why a manufacture would install 'rivets' and not allow access to the rope and winding mechanism ? Sorry I am stumpted, send me digital photo if you wish, might help me see what you are dealing with.

I believe your referring the part the rope comes out of (there is 4 rivets holding that down)
You can gain access to the rope, by taking the whole cooling shroud off the engine.

Is it "catching" on the engine and the engine is seized? You have not stated does the engine turn at all? So it could be a mechanism unrelated to the pull rope.

Hi Guys... I to have a Briggs n Stratton Classic 35 engine mower... and the Pull chord snapped... When I took the top plastic cover off.. It has four rivets,which I think is crazy... So as Briggs-Dude said... I have to take off the full vent housing... Does anyone know where I can find a diagram or Pics online.. to help me do this..?. I would appreciate any help I can get..?.

Regards John.

Ok we didn't really get a answer. I'll try a little bit more indepth explanation, cause I'm in the same boat. I'm too seeking help. Ok here goes...

The pull cord is stuck. Its pulls out about 4 inches then the cord stops. Looking into the cord area ontop of mower, I notice a small white plastic piece getting caught in a notch built into the cord housing. Now... when I loosen the cord a little bit, I can slide a butter knife through the cord house and push in the little white plastic piece that's sticking into the cord housing preventing the cord from extending all the way out. When I push in that little white piece, the cord pulls out another 4inches or so, as it rotates to the next notch in the cord housing. Now... it seems originally that there was something that keeps this little white plastice piece pushed in at all times allowing the cord to pull start normally. The mower is a briggs and stratton 650series white outdoor mower. I wasn't using the mower when this problem occurred, but now I'm stuck trying to fix it. Any help? I hope that better describes the problem so I can get some help.