Yes mate I know what u mean, I snapped mine and bought replacement pull string, but FFS it was a nightmare, it's a bit of a pain to sort it. I have snapped 2 in less than 2 years, go electric start next time I think.
I have my machine bolted down in van just in front of my tank, on right side, pull cord being on the right at say 3 o'clock, in hindsight I would of angled it so the pull cord being at say 5 o'clock. I can see evidence on the plastic parts were the rope is rubbing wen pulled. But we live and learn.
I spoke with my supplier and he advised me to just pick up a whole new section with pull cord already in, it's just a case of 3 bolts off, swap over, bolts back in.
Give a pull and away u go.
Replacements are on eBay and cheap enough to do without the hassle