how do you replace the starter cord on troy-bilt tb70ss?

I replaced mine. What a pain. It's nice that the warranty does not cover "wear items" such as the starter rope, yet it is such a pain to replace. I will definitely think twice about buying Troy Bilt again (and their slogan is "Built for Life" - ha! I've had mine for less than 1 year).

Referring back to the parts diagram linked to in my other post, I ended up removing these things to get to the recoil pulley, which is what the starter rope wraps around:
- clutch cover
- clutch drum
- clutch rotor
- starter housing
- pressure plate

The hardest part was removing the clutch drum and rotor. You have to prevent the engine from moving to remove them. I saw here (http://support.mtdproducts.com/cgi-bin/mtd.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=390) that the best way to do that is to remove the spark plug (which should be disconnected anyway) and stuff a soft piece of rope into the hole. I ended up using the old starter rope. I had to stuff almost the whole thing in to prevent the engine from turning when removing the clutch drum screw and the clutch rotor.

The clutch rotor is threaded on to the crankcase shaft. I used channel locks to remove it, turning counter clockwise. I grasped it on the flat portions right next to the 2 springs. Once that comes off, the starter housing can be removed (5 T20 screws). Then remove the pressure plate (3 T20 screws). Next remove the pulley retainer (I just used a flat screwdriver).

I messed up the next part and it took me an extra 20 minutes to undo the mess. The recoil pulley is 2 white plastic wheels, one on top of the other with a spring inside (not the same as the recoil spring, which sits underneath the recoil pulley assembly). This is what the starter rope wraps around. You have to take it off to put the new rope on. But the recoil spring, which sits underneath and is covered by a shiny metal plate, will become unsprung if you are not careful when you remove the recoil pulley. You can use a screwdriver to hold the cover of the recoil spring in place while you remove the recoil pulley.

When taking off the old rope remnants and putting on the new rope, I did not have to take the smaller wheel off the larger wheel (didn't want to - there is a coiled spring inside there). I just tilted it a little so I could get at the end of the old rope.

Once I got the new rope on and fed it through the rope guide and attached the handle, I just reversed everything to put it back together. And it worked!

Hope this helps.

Doug.

Doug
August 2007

The starter cord on mine broke too. I have not figured out how to replace it yet, but this site (http://www.buymtdonline.com/) may be helpful to you because it has an engine diagram. This is how I found it:
- go to http://www.buymtdonline.com/
- click "Use our detailed parts finder" on the right (new window should pop up)
- click Parts tab
- select OEM Troy-Bilt
- enter "rope" in Description
- enter "tb70ss" in Model Name
- click Search
- click on the Rope part
- click TB70SS 41ADT70C711-->Engine Parts on the right

A new window should pop up that should have a parts diagram

Doug
August 2007

Charles, I have a TroyBilt TB75SS with a pull-cord problem. I'm in the process of disassembling right now. For this model, most of the housing came apart with a T20 star driver. There are about 5 screws in deep recessed pockets in the plastic housing. However, I needed to buy a T20 with a narrow shaft handle to fit into the wheel that comes off of the motor to the shaft. That's as far as I got. I was looking for help on this forum to see how to continue tearing it apart and replacing the pull start. Hope this helps.

Ken
August 2007