Repair/replacement of recoil pulley retainer?

[bgsengine]

welding probably won't do the trick, unless you can weld it in place after everything's assembled - weld will not bend (or the metal around it may bend) unless you are able to heat treat and temper the weld afterwards to match the sheet metal... Ive brazed them on a time or two, but the repair is a one-off , later attempts to bend the tangs away for future repairs usually result in the weld or repair breaking off again (as well as distorting the shroud) However if you were able to take two housings with the recoil stamping , and break away the spot welds that hold recoil housing to blower housing, and then weld/braze (or spot weld) the replacement in place, you may have better luck that way..

[creia]

welding probably won't do the trick, unless you can weld it in place after everything's assembled - weld will not bend (or the metal around it may bend) unless you are able to heat treat and temper the weld afterwards to match the sheet metal... Ive brazed them on a time or two, but the repair is a one-off , later attempts to bend the tangs away for future repairs usually result in the weld or repair breaking off again (as well as distorting the shroud) However if you were able to take two housings with the recoil stamping , and break away the spot welds that hold recoil housing to blower housing, and then weld/braze (or spot weld) the replacement in place, you may have better luck that way..

Thank you Brian- Your suggestion sounds like a good way to go. I could "canabalize" a good recoil off of one of the otherwise junk shrouds I have by carefully cutting around the "feet" of the struts with a Dremel tool where they are tack welded to the shroud. Then have it rewelded unto my 1969 shroud after I cut/ground off the recoil. In case anybody is asking why I go to all this trouble (I KNOW some of you are wondering about that! ) it is because a vintage 80202 3HP 1969 shroud, where you can clearly still read all the engine numbers (Model, Type , and Code) is "GOLD" in the vintage engine restoration market.
Michael