Chainsaw Repair

My biggest problem is studying the layout to see which way to lay the spring in the pocket and then which way to wind the cord on the pulley.

I don't know about a Echo 8000 but on the Husky 372s, Stihls, Homelites, and Dolmars I've done in the last couple years, I try to feed it into the spring pocket from a uncoiled piece. Generally I've started with the outside part of the spring first and more or less continue to feed the spring into the pocket letting it expand to the outside. I hold the spring down into the pocket with my right hand and feed the rest of the spring in with my left.

When I get all the spring into the pocket I place the pulley on top and attempt to engage the spring with the pulley.

Now comes the part of winding up the pulley with the cord on it. The pulley has a notch at one point and I stick the cord in this notch to wind the spring. I don't wind the spring all at once. I give it a couple turns with the cord in the notch - then re-grip and let the cord untwist. I keep going until I get the spring tight.

I use a small pair of vice grip pliers to hold the free end of the cord while I feed the handle on and tie the knot.

If the spring is not tight enough, I put the cord in the notch and give the pulley another turn, remove the cord from the notch and see what I have?

I like the double braid Dacron polyester cords with the little blue diamond marks. Stens sells it as "Diamond Braid" but is not normally in the discount and hardware stores. It is heavier than the B&S lawn mower stuff. I like it big enough so it will not feed through it self in the pulley and cause binding. On the 50cc saws I like #4 and on the 60-70cc saws like the #4 1/2.

http://www.stenspartsdirect.com/index.php?cPath=91_224_921

Most new pull cords are 1 meter or 39" long before the knots.

The handle knot often has to have it's end doubled in the loop to make it fat enough to not pull through the handle. Sometimes there is a steel washer in the handle to keep the knot from pulling through?

I forgot to add that the ends of the cord have to be melted solid and mashed against the vice so they are firm on the end and do not unravel.