sounds more like maintenance...anyways...take the top off and flip it over, bend the tabs and remove the recoil but don't take the spring out of it...remove your old rope and buy a repair kit at walmart or your local small engine repair place. better yet...take the recoil to one of those places and ask them to rewind it for you. if not, tie the new string into the recoilwith the spring laoded and it will retract by itself. good luck