The rope broke on my 5 HP Briggs & Stratton engine, and I thought: well I've fixed dozens of these things, so this will be a piece of cake �" WRONG!

On this starter, the spring became unattached from its anchor point on the housing and would only take tension for a turn or two before slipping. The starter had to come apart to re-anchor the spring.

This starter is unlike any I have encountered before. To hold the pulley/spring assembly in place there is a hollow split pin which is expanded on one end with a washer that sits against the starter pawl housing.

The other end of the split pin is pressed into the shroud. Removing the decal on the outside of the shroud reveals the other end of the split pin, but the starter assembly is too flexible to allow one to press or drive out the pin.

I searched the internet for a solution without success, and then headed out to the shop. I found the split pin is too tough to deform enough to remove the washer. I decide to cut the expanded portion of the split pin off, and then I could remove the washer and disassemble the starter. How to cut the pin?
My solution was to drill away the top of the pin. I used a series of drills in the drill press and enlarged the hole in the center of the pin until it was paper thin in the area by the washer. I then crushed what was left of the pin inside the washer, and easy disassembly followed.

I then prepared the pin for re-assembly by cutting off the thin/crushed portion with a Dremel tool & a cutoff wheel.
I bent the spring back into shape, cleaned and lubricated all the parts and assembled the starter.

To hold it all together, I used a üâ flathead screw through the center of the split pin, and secured it with a nylon locknut on the outside of the shroud. I adjusted the tension on the nut so the pulley / spring assembly would spin freely but without slop.

I wound the tension to 5 turns, installed a new rope and reinstalled the starter. So far it works fine. If the vibration turns out to be too much the locknut, IâÂÂll add loctite.