Ok, I just went through this nightmare and this is what I had to do. I had to take the ENTIRE thing apart and the shaft was still blocking me from pulling the housing off.
You have to unscrew the front of the shaft off completely in order to pull the housing off. In order to do this I put a screwdriver blocking the piston on the other side of the engine from turning when I unscrewed it.
After you pull the housing off you will be able to EVENTUALLY get to the part that the pull rope goes around. You'll have to unscrew a couple more things to get to it but if I can do it you can do it.
Just keep track of all your screws and where they go!!!
Hope this helped you!!!
Terrel Oubre
July 2006