Pull cord and recoil problems.

Hi all.
Someone might be able to help me, I have a mariner 40 lonshaft and on sunday for some reason the pull start rope for some reason broke.
I was sitting by the pier so managed to whip the top off and feed the rope back through, however the large recoil spring is impossible to get back on. I spent a good hour trying to coil it up which is prety hard due to the ammount of greese and it seems to attach at both ends. I eventually gave up maybe its a sign its time to take it out for the year and get it done professionally. Does anyone know of a knack of getting this back in?

Don't know Dave but I find this site useful.
http://www.marineengine.com/
In the centre of home page click on Mariner and then I think you can post your question from there. You might have to join the forums.

Good luck

Yappo

There is a knack in rewinding a recoil spring so it does not pop out again.
Until you can do it, you need an extra pair of hands.
If you have lots of spare time fire away at it. It will pop in sooner or (probably much much) later!
If your spare time is valuable to you leave the recoil unit into a professional. They will be able to do it quickly, and you can then re-fit it onto the engine yourself.
Since it would be a quick job, taking minutes, with no parts cost involved, it would not be expensive to get done.