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HELP! Stumped on Stihl TS420 rewind starter

Excaliburrr

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Hello, I am trying to repair my friend's TS 420 cut-off saw, specificially the rewind starter. The issue is this: The pawl will not engage the starter cup, as in the pawl will not fly out and catch the spring clip with it's guide peg, and as such the pawl will remain in the disengaged position. The rewind mechanism itself works fine, pulling and retracting the cord works as it should, as in there is no binding or any other malfunctions. But when the starter cover is properly secured down on the saw itself, the cup won't engage, therefore leading to no starting.

For troubleshooting, the first thing I did was replace the original pawl with a new OEM pawl - as the original was cracked in half, that didn't solve my problem. There is no dirt or debris in the starter rotor where the pawl seats, nor on the little groove the pawl moves in, I even blew it out and wiped it clean. The next troubleshooting endeavor was to replace the spring clip and washer, as they could have been loose, or fatigued. Again, to no result. The last troubleshooting thing I did was to check if the starter cup was loose at all, which I tried to wrench on it to tighten it up, which it didn't budge-implying the starter cup is fastened down enough. Other things I tried were 1. Lubricating the pawl with multiple different lubricants, including WD-40, 10W-30 motor oil, another type of more viscous liquid lubricant, and graphite powder, none of which worked. 2. Lubricating the spring clip, and the guide peg on the pawl, neither worked. 3. Gently sanding down the pawl and it's guide groove to reduce any friction, and that didn't do anything either.

I am very confused on what I could be missing, I would like to think I did enough troubleshooting and research on my own before asking here. Attatched are the pictures of the rewind starter, and shown is the guide peg not catching on the spring clip and engaging the pawl.
 

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bpmaas

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I took the starter off of my TS500I (same starter as TS420), to see what happens. When I start to pull, the pawl immediately starts to move outward. Before the rope is out 2" the pawl is as far out as it can go. Every time. My suspicion is that maybe the spring (part #1118 195 3500) doesn't have enough tension (when clipped onto the shaft). The spring on mine doesn't start to rotate around the shaft until the pawl is in the fully engaged position.
 

Brad Button

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Are you sure the spring clip is on correctly? It is easy to get them on backwards. Have you tried flip it over?
 

bpmaas

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I looked at his picture and it is on correctly.... same as mine.
 

EFSM

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Try pinching the clip shut some to put more friction on the shaft. Remove any lubricant from the recoil too; it makes an abrasive sludge when mixes with concrete dust and is worse than nothing.
 

Excaliburrr

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Try pinching the clip shut some to put more friction on the shaft. Remove any lubricant from the recoil too; it makes an abrasive sludge when mixes with concrete dust and is worse than nothing.
I did try pinching the spring clip shut, and that did allow the pawl to engage with the spring clip, which is what made me believe the spring clip had worn out in the first place, leading to me replacing it. When that didn't work is when I came here.

I will attempt to tension the rewind spring more.
 

Catbuster

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These rewinds are one of the worst designed things Stihl has ever come up with.


I did try pinching the spring clip shut, and that did allow the pawl to engage with the spring clip, which is what made me believe the spring clip had worn out in the first place, leading to me replacing it. When that didn't work is when I came here.

I will attempt to tension the rewind spring more.

That’s maybe the most important part about fixing these things. If the rewind spring isn’t tight enough both the pawl will not come out, nor will the rope rewind after pulling out.

Don’t worry, it took me 2 hours jacking around with a TS 400 (same starter) the first time to figure it out.
 

EFSM

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These rewinds are one of the worst designed things Stihl has ever come up with.




That’s maybe the most important part about fixing these things. If the rewind spring isn’t tight enough both the pawl will not come out, nor will the rope rewind after pulling out.

Don’t worry, it took me 2 hours jacking around with a TS 400 (same starter) the first time to figure it out.
Totally true. Why put it on the dirty side of the engine? Echo seals their starter with oil seals so that no dirt can get in and of course puts them on the proper side of the engine. Husqvarna recoils give very little trouble either.
 
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