In article , "John N9JG"
wrote:

How big a guy are you anyway? Are you a former football player with a 300 lb
pull and maybe you're just too rough on the machine?

John-

Perhaps I don't know my own strength, but it was all I could do to lift
the generator to put it back in the box. I've been starting machines with
recoil starters for 50 years, and this the first time one broke!

The spots that should have been welded were clean. There was no sign of
metal deformation either from being welded or from being torn. The
question is, what held it together for the first few starts?

73, Fred, K4DII