Strikemaster auger problem

[macminn]

I have a Strikemaster that I bought at the end of last season . I used it once last year, and once this year. Used it again this weekend up on Lake of the Woods. Drilled half a dozen holes and fished for a bit. 2 of the holes were hot, and I wanted to drill some more in line with them to see how they were. Pulled the cord once, twice, SNAP, the pull cord broke.

It doesn't look simple to get to. Three of us trying to fix it on the ice with limited tools without success. After buying some tools in Baudette, taking it apart, still can't get it working. Got the cord back through there and tied, but the spring popped off. Went and bought more tools, took the spring cover off and reattached it. Wound the spring, placet the top back on, and it didn't hold, so there's no reistance when you pull the cord.

I'm not real happy with the design of this. Anyone else had trouble with theirs? I'll be calling Strikemaster tomorrow.

[Borch]

No I haven't haqd trouoble with it. But bring it in to Strikemaster in Big Lake and they'll fix you up in a short period of time.

[SomethingFishy*]

Sorry you had troubles. Bring it to Strikemaster in Big Lake, they'll take care of it while you wait, zero hassles.

[charliepete2]

I haven't had the problem myself, but it seems to be quite common with Strikemasters from what I've read on the internet. Do you have the yellow decompression button on your auger? It seems that people that don't have it often have problems with the pull start breaking.

Customer service is nice, but it's better to have products that never need it.

[stmichael]

macminn,

Quote:

---

I'm not real happy with the design of this.

---

With that comment I assume that you are new to the recoil repair.

I have had mine apart once this past January due to the same problem, It was new in Dec. 03. There were not any issues getting mine back together. I am assuming the motors have not changed much. This design is used by just about every maker of a machine that needs to be pulled to get started...at least with my experiences.

If you can go to strikemaster and ask them if you can watch them fix the problem, that way you will know what to do in the future. I would bank on it happening again. It is hard to find a good quatlity cord these days.

Good luck! please let us know what they told you.

[hanson]

So I must have gotten lucky with my 4 yr old Lazer Express, eh? Never had a single problem with it and I auger lots of holes during the winter. Never had a recoil cord break either. You don't have to pull that hard on them.

Try a new Strikemaster 4 stroke, you'll rip the cord out of the auger on your first pull. You only have to pull it about 8-12" and not very hard either. Kinda hard to get used to at first.

[Tundrasnake]

I brought my Strikemaster up to Big Lake and the guy told me to shut it off with the decompression valve and not the toggle. Some kind of a design glitch with the way it stops out of sync when using the on/off switch and then breaks the recoil on the next try. Great news eh? Doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. I'm on my third recoil on a two year old auger, and haven't had much chance to use it since late Feburary when the last one went in.

[McGurk]

Well, I guess I'll chime in on this as a guy who fixed it myself. Went to DRock and bought the part that the cord goes around (rewind spool) as it was stripped out and new cord for about $10. They could have fixed it within the next couple of days but I didn't want to wait. After about 2 hours of trial and error I got it back together and working. I had the spring out and tried unsuccessfully to load it (twist the tension on) out of the cover and place it in, but in the end just laid the starting end in the cover and wound it in inch by inch (WITH GLOVES ON!!! IMPORTANT!!!). Make sure you are winding it the correct direction. I then placed the rewind spool in, twisted it 8 turns, and threaded the new cord in (using a figure 8 knot not a half hitch), so it would pull the cord in itself. If you have no resistance I would try that. Good Luck! McGurk

[Scenic]

As long as my 14 y/o leaves it alone the rope never gives me any problem. He has a tendency to pull it just a bit to far and a bit to hard...lol

Easy fix in about 10 minutes. Take the cover off, wind the spring the correct way until it is tight, burn the end of the rope so it does not fray, put the new rope through the hole, slowly release the spring to be sure it will pull the rope in all the way. Then put the cover on and done!

[DEADhead]

luckily I've never had a problem with my strikemaster mag 2000.

[macminn]

I must be doing something wrong. How do you keep the spring from unwinding while putting it on the top?

[Scenic]

When you say unwinding...I am presuming that you have the rope already on the rope pully. When putting the cover back on the unit your rope should be ready to pull. In fact you should be able to pull the rope handle and the rope will retract. You should be able to do this before placing it on your unit.

When you say the spring keeps unwinding. Explain that one a little please.

[stmichael]

macminn,

I noticed that you are located in Maple Grove, I work in Maple Grove. I would be happy to take a look at it with you. Let me know if you are interested and how I can get a hold of you.

Mike

[stmichael]

Hanson,

You are one of the lucky ones that have friends that are not out to prove that they are hercules everytime they want to drill a hole.

I was going to buy the new Stihl chain saw that has the Easy2Start feature, I can see them neanderthals doing the same thing to that. .

you buy 'em books and buy 'em books. all they do is drink my beer.

[JohnMickish]

Stikemaster dosne't put long enough rope on them, which contributes greatly to the problem. If you have a long reach you run out of rope before you run out of arm. That is what I have run into with the strikemasters that I have started in the last couple of years. To "fix" it I now grab the handle farthest from me instead of the closest handle to shorten my reach. No problems. Yes, we all know you don't need to pull it over like your trying to start a truck but old habits die hard. I too purchased a Stihl chainsaw and was looking at the easy2start thing. I didn't get it because it only comes on the homeowner style small saws and the dealer just said one thing about it. "Dont get it". I didn't get it and purchased a Farm Boss that dosne't come with it anyways.

[hanson]

Quote:

---

Hanson,

You are one of the lucky ones that have friends that are not out to prove that they are hercules everytime they want to drill a hole.

---

I try not to let my friends use my auger.

I'm not so worried about the recoil as I am someone banging up my blades. Those Lazer blades are touchy.

[boneyslayer]

Its a longer job than ten minutes, and real care in taking care of parts removed and how they go back together needs to be taken into account, I've done it twice, once at Red the other after the first night of walk out and quickly back on the first night out this season, and the cord is getting shorter, Plan on replacing it with a heavier duty cord that has fine braiding or coating on the cord, anyway the top screws must be removed, then, remove the filter cover screws from the carb intake, there are two nuts uner it that hold the gas tank on and a stud up on top of the motor has a nut also once the gas tank is away, that last stud on the top can be removed, and let me tell ya the sizes of some of the nuts are odd balls so have a good tool sets ready so you don't strip the nuts, The recoil cover can be removed, loosen the stud on the cord wheel to remove it taking care to watch the order of parts and how they are on, Next thing is to put the cord back thru the cover and wrap it thru the feed hole to secure it with a knot then wrap it by hand, the tension on the spring is created when you pull, but you also need to watch that the keying ledge on the wheel catches the spring if you where to simulate a pull, wrap the wheel in the direction it goes staight from the cover hole to the wheel full wrapped, any angle and its wrapped wrong, install it with the bolt , not to tight and check to see if the spring grabs when pulled, just make adjustments to the spring ends till it works right, After reinstalling all components then adjust the cord at the pull handle so it releases to the cover.

1- 1.5 hr job to do it right. I would have lawnmower cord on hand and burn the ends.

GLuck

[stmichael]

I have a different way of doing it and it only takes a matter of minutes and you do not have to take the cord wheel off. There is a notch in the cord wheel that the cord rides in so when you are putting tension on the spring you just have to keep on going until it takes up the cord and then just a little more to allow for stretch (you do not want the cord hanging out after a couple of pulls). I have done this in less than an hour start to finish (and 5-10 minutes primarily working just on the recoil portion, just depends how many times you let go of the rope). It has been used many times since. The cord is a wee bit shorter than original. Like you I am looking for a good cord to replace with. I am trying out some donkey tape on a 3 wheeler to see if that will last? If it does and of course if it fits on the cord wheel (which I doubt) I will use that. Never know, if you don't try.

[Scenic]

Ok so maybe it would take 15-20 minutes to "do it right". In an hour and a half you could just about tear down that motor but if you just want to replace the rewind rope you need to take off air cleaner, loosen the nut on the stud on top of the rewind assembly that holds the gas tank, remove the two nuts on the inside of the carburetor that holds on the gas tank then lift the gas tank up off the stud on top, remove the rewind case bolts including the stud and lift it off your motor assembly.

Take any of the old rope off the rewind pulley. Prepare your rope by burning the end that goes in the rewind pulley assembly. Turn the rewind spring until it is tight without overtighting it. It only needs to be tight enough to pull the rope back in all the way. Hold this with one hand so that the spring does not unwind (It sometimes helps to have someone else help you to hold that in place). On your last turn of the rope pulley stop it so that the hole on the pulley lines up with the hole in the rewind case. Slide your rope through the hole; tie a knot in the rope so that it will stay in place. Holding the rope in one hand and the assembly in the other let the spring slowly pull the rope in. If it pulls the rope in all the way then you are good to go. If it does not you either need to tighten your spring by turning it further or shorten your rope.

Place the rewind assembly back on top of your auger unit, replace the three bolts and one stud in the proper place, tighten them down, replace gas tank by placing the tank tab over the stud, replace the nut that goes on top that holds the tank tab, replace the nuts that hold on your gas tank, replace your air filter and go fishing.

[stmichael]

Since macminn has already taken the thing apart I figured that taking the recoil assembly off was not the problem, I was only talking about the recoil issue he was having. It is great that you guys went through the disassembly process. Just in case there was someone out there that did not have to deal with this yet. He has already been passed the point of taking the recoil assembly off the motor.

Maybe I misunderstood...it happens from time to time.

[boneyslayer]

Correct, and there is also a gasket on the backside of the gas tank that only goes in one way in its seat, so keep an eye on that when assembling, it will leak like crazy if out of the seat, as was said by Jeff, it compresses the spring on a pull and retracts to bring the rope back in.There is no need to Precompression required on the spring, just make sure the wheel catches the spring, this is a nice feature compared to most recoils of taken apart. Have enough rope to do it right, do not tighten the recoil assembly bolt tight it must turn free.

Glad to see theres a better understanding how it works.