Martin 60 Starter Rope

[bjarnold1]

The original cloth wrapped metal cord is starting fray and is catching on the opening when you pull the cord out. Has anyone replaced the original metal cord with a modern starter rope?

[b-morrison]

if it is not too far down the rope you could trim it and either shrink wrap the end with a like color wrap or trim and seal with dope to keep it from fraying. You could check with Russ Larson (links) and see if he has a cord replacement……Brian

[legendre]

Right.. and Do not remove the recoil spring – lol.

Also, be sure to use heavy-duty eye protection any time you’re working on a recoil unit. Make the wrong move, and those springs can run so wild, so fast..

[rzelmer]

On a Johnson TD-20 (5 hp, 1949), I removed all of the cloth covering (very deteriorated but cable was excellent) and used 3/16" dia, 2 to 1 ratio, heat shrink over the entire cable. Had to buy 10 ft of the heat shrink (on line) to cover the 5+ feet of cable. Dipped cable in light oil (Marvel Mystery Oil) and wiped it clean. The oil gave corrosion protection and made it easier to slide the heat shrink onto the cable. An open flame lighter stick provided good heat to give a tight shrink fit for the covering. The cable extends and retract smoothly on the pulley now. Has worked great.

[bobprock4200]

Russ has replacement rope, I’ve just used regular nylon rope (of similar diameter) with good results in several Martins and all my motors. I wouldn’t try to rehabilitate an old rope because the cotton cover over the wire core will eventually only fail somewhere else later. I’d just replace it with new rope.

[rzelmer]

I have to correct my post about using heat shrink to cover the metal rope cable, (after removing the cloth woven material). The heat shrink has begun to fray and split. Looks like nylon rope is the way to go.

[Author]

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