Remingtons- Any Cure for the Flaky Recoils?

[Hagstar]

I have bought a couple of neat looking Remington saws at the local flea, a John Deere 18 and today a Mighty Mite Automatic. But what's holding back the restorations are the Fairbanks-Morse recoils.

They look SO sturdy and well built, but they seems to like to blow up. The little metal shoes inside the flywheel "cup" are supposed to move out and catch the inside of said cup. But instead they just chew the cup inside (filling the saw with metal shavings) or the little metal shoes just break.

Is there a way to make these work right? I would think the issue for the new saw is the plastic recoil housing wearing, but the John Deere is all die-cast and its recoil busted just the same. I have a line on a good flywheel for the Mighty Mite but I don't want to just destroy it! Thanks folks, this place is fun.

John H.

 

[Hagstar]

I have just read on another forum a recommendation to cut new grooves in the flywheel cup and sharpen the tips of the metal "dogs" or as I called them above shoes.

Actually I just found my answers here- http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=62966, I will try the suggested tips. Please post though if you have anything to add- thanks.

 

[RandyMac]

Maintainance on the flippy things, friction washers and springs will help. Homelite C5 parts work, maybe not the cup.

 

[pioneerguy600]

On vintage saws that I could not find a replacement cup for I turned the inside of the cup out on the lathe and then turned a ring that I pressed into the cup to restore it to the original diameter, they work really well. Friction shoes can be resharpened once or twice also.
Pioneerguy600

 

[Hagstar]

Found the answer- it WAS the plastic recoil housing after all in the case of the Mighty Mite. The little socket that's supposed to hold the shaft at the center of the recoil pulley is all stripped out. Since it won't stay still the friction washers can't engage the mechanism to push the friction shoes outward.

I found a metal recoil housing online from the first series of this Mighty Mite Auto and plan to order it. Thanks for the suggestions, I know now how to fix these sorta.

John H.

 

[Hagstar]

I followed the tips previously posted here on Fairbanks-Morse recoils that I linked to above, and installed the new used metal recoil housing. I had to do my first recoil spring install- :bang:. After awhile I recalled from old clock springs that you have to wind it tight, then clamp it with a needle-nose Visegrips and drop it in- voila.

BUT the flywheel cup had been seriously stripped by people wailing on the cord as the old plastic-housing recoil died. So I got a flywheel from eBay for $9.60 shipped and installed it tonight, I cleaned and reset the points while it was off. Now the recoil catches and releases perfectly , I even got her to run for a few seconds. One lesson (I've learned before restoring stuff) though- a $10- saw ends up needing 3 times that in parts to restore- and I got a good deal really.

After I pulled out the carb to soak tonight I realized he diaphragms and gaskets are likely the originals and were in the worst shape I've seen of the dozen or so carbs I've redone. So many cheap used saws- now kind of cool- had a bad period of neglect and abuse late in their working life. My Mighty Mite was probably the hard-to-start go-to saw for cutting in the dirt and installing new windows in the trailer.

I restore old radios and phonos and these often had a similar period of neglect sitting in the basement being tortured by damp, mice, and curious poking children.

John H.

 

[Hagstar]

So the Mighty Mite would not start just sputter despite carb rebuild. I replaced the fuel line with clear Tygon and noticed no fuel was getting to the carb. After much headscratching I recalled that I hadn't check the muffler for clogging. Just a spray of carb cleaner and suddenly fuel arrives at the carb. :biggrinbounce2:

I blasted the muffler with compressed air and viola- runs like champ. I lost the OEM fuel filter in the very tight tank though and it seems I will have to split said tank to get it out- odd design.

John H.