While this does an excellent job of explaining how to remove the crank, the key to this repair is running the new cord down from the top of the umbrella inside the pole to the crank location. My pole has a hinge about three feet from the top, which allows the umbrella to tilt. The video fails to explain that it is next to impossible to run the new cord down past that hinge as there is so little space and the hinge is not accessible from the outside (nor easily removed as it is riveted in place). The only way I can figure to do this repair if the pole has a hinge is to NOT remove the old cord at first, but rather attach the new cord to the old one near the crank and try to use the old cord to pull the new cord up the pole to the top.
I threaded a dog tag-type ball chain over the pulley and down the pole. The new cord was taped to the end of the chain and I was able to pull it through relatively easily. The ball chain has both the weight and flexibility needed to get the cord over the pulley and down the narrow tube.
@@jodyfarhat6094 I'm glad that worked for you. Mine, however, has only a small (half a centimeter) hole in the hinge for the string, and it is almost impossible to re-thread that with anything that is not solid. I've considered using a piece of stiff wire, but the problem is attaching the new cord to the wire so that the wire and the attached cord go through the hole. I note that in newer model umbrellas, the "cord" is wire.
Although this video is helpful, as noted in several comments, not all umbrellas are designed alike. With about a day of first timer effort, several trips to the hardware store and this video, I was able to successfully restring my Treasure Garden market umbrella. Next time, I will be able to do it in under an hour. Here are a few things I learned. I bought a 50 foot bag marked 1/4 inch nylon umbrella repair cord at home depot for less than 5 dollars. That's enough to repair my 9 foot TG market umbrella 5 times. My top and bottom rib collars did not twist off like in the video; mine had screws. The ribs in the collar are held in place with about .5 inch steel tubes. These can come out easily and take some practice to get back in place. My umbrella has a push button tilt so the pole is not hollow. As another poster mentioned, this make it hard to thread the new line from the pole top down to the crank area. Using the flashlight on my phone I noticed the hole inside the pole for the string is about the same diameter as the 1/4 inch nylon string. I used a sewing machine needle, sewing thread and gravity to work the thread through the small hole, then tied the umbrella repair cord to the thread and pulled it through. Also, my pole had a round rubber cap at the bottom that I was able to pry off with a screwdriver to make it easier to pull on the threaded sewing needle. The last tip I have is that my umbrella has notches in the top and bottom collars that indicate where the cord should be pulled through. On mine, there is only one right location for the outside, visible cord to be threaded. You might want to take note of that location when beginning disassembly.
thank you! This was such a great tutorial! We have a large umbrella that the chord disconnected just a month after I bought it, and of course, it only had a 30 day return.
I am not handy at ALL and did not believe for a second that I would be able to do this but you proved me wrong! Thank you so so SO much for your help!!
Thanks very much for this complete instructional video. Given my innate lack of patience, I decided to do a crude but effective fix, rather than replace the string. First we unfastened and removed the section of the pole attached to the umbrella itself from the base pole. Then we used blue painter's tape several times around each pole section about 2 inches from the end. This is to reduce the slipping of the drill bit against the metal you're drilling into. For this fix, we chose an old 1/4" diameter screwdriver we no longer needed. Therefore we used a 1/4" drill bit. We drilled a hole straight across each side of each pole. So there were now 4 holes. We then raised the umbrella and lined up the holes on the base pole with the holes on the umbrella side and inserted the screwdriver through the aligned four holes. Be careful to hold your drill in as flat a horizontal position as possible. Then insert your screwdriver through the aligned holes and it will support the umbrella in the up position. We leave our umbrella up but if you want to take it down when not in use, simply pull out the screwdriver. An Allen Wrench would be cleaner and just as or even more effective than the screwdriver, but what I just described works. This doesn't give you the position options or flexibility of the original design...but it works if you main goal is to keep the sun, or rain if you are so inclined, off you...
Just wanted to say thanks for this, your video has saved me a chunk of money in not replacing our patio shade, but I didn't realise this until I'd dismantled ours and watched for a second time. Ours was bought from a UK DIY store a couple of years ago and the winder mechanism is nowhere as well made as that shown. So when our string popped I dismantled the whole unit thinking I needed to replace the string completely. In fact all I had to do was prise off the two retaining rings above and below the winder cover, then take off one side of the clamshell exposing the "other" end of the winder. Make careful note of the order of the various washers and nut as you take them off. Then you can pull the handle through and with it the other side of the shell. If you watch carefully from around 10 minutes you'll see how you can hook out the end of the string, tie a new knot and then reassemble the opposite way. With mine there was more than enough string to reuse without having to buy a new one. Very pleased I found this, a replacement shade here in the UK is £70 or more.
Thanks. This made it a lot easier. Ran into a snag with the tilt mechanism but was able to fish the rope through by taping it to a coat hanger. Thanks again
There is one problem I encountered: The string does not go easily through the pipe. The hole narrows at at least one point and the string catches there. I've tried several things but haven't gotten it through yet. I'll keep working on it. Any ideas?
I have a proshade umbrella that has a housing around the crank that doesn’t have 4 screw holes. It looks like it is a press fit housing. Any idea how to get this off?
Thanks for posting this. It was a great help to doing mine, even though it has a different, aluminum construction. Most significantly, it has an angled tilt mechanism between the top and crank section. So it required a step including a stiff wire to thread the cord down the core. I don't have a tool like that, but fortunately I had some leftover bailing wire I could tape to some leftover 1/8" parachord. Regardless, I'm not sure I would have even attempted without your video. In any case, the wife and I are happily back out on back deck, plus I have a perfect future retort to any "pack rat" crack. So thanks again.
Ours has a tilt mechanism too and I used old net curtain wire to get past that but like you I'm not sure I would have attempted the task without this video.
hey excellent fix. Can you help identifying the name of the little metal push button that separates the umbrella from the bottom pipe? What is the correct name for it. Need on for mine. Thanks..
Still don't understand how the cord gets back up to the top of the umbrella. The cord on my umbrella is all wound around the bottom of umbrella and needs to go back up and through the hole to reconnect. It would be easier if you just came over and did it for me! LOL!
Thank you so much, my umbrella was slightly different but it worked. The hardest was because of the tilting connection but with a wire and my neighbor's help it's now repaired. Great video!
Absolutely on the money. A perfect explanation and demonstration of how to carry out this tricky procedure. I had a slightly different set up at the winder housing and the access to the pulley but was given confidence by this video to work out how to cope with the additional challenges. The only issue that brought me to a halt for a couple of days was the diameter of the hole in the winder to take the cord. I bought 4mm before I had the assembly apart and no matter how I tried it wouldn’t have it. Once the correct 3mm diameter cord was delivered, the rest of the job went like a dream. I am very grateful for this video tutorial.
befor you attached the umpbrella you test the string winding towards your body After you attached the umbrella you opens it winding the opposite direction.. WHY?
Crank bolt broke on mine. Had i disassembled and replaced string might have prevented bolt from breaking as was really hard to turn. Cant seem to find replacement crank bolts so will try to make one out of lag bolt. Or just buy new umbrella for $40...
He never shows the removal of the pipe handle bushing. There is one on each side of the pipe that are attached with rivets. You have to drill out the rivet on one side in order to get the string to feed out and back into the pipe after you tie it off on the crank handle. You should then install a new rivet to secure the crank handle bushing.
My umbrella is 3 weeks old and string broke. Is there anything I need to check to see why it broke? We put it down every night to avoid problems. The string is badly frayed on the end looks like it was rubbing on a rough edge?
Cambié piola gastada, al no encontrar la piola utilicé fibra óptica de dos milímetro, funciona bien, tengo que esperar para checar la durabilidad con el uso.
your housing came off so easily. Mine had 4 screws I removed but the housing is stuck. I'm afraid I might break it if I force it. any suggestions? its a california umbrella if that helps
Loved this. The string just broke on my umbrella and I had no idea how to fix it. Now I know. Doubt if I can do it in 17 mins though. You made it idiot proof.
Very complete and informative instructional video not sure if I'll be able to handle this on my own but I'm going to enlist the help of a friend LOL my question is how do you know how long of an amount of string you need and what type of string do you suggest
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! I bought one of these & 4 moths later the crank handle FELL APART & I could not figure out how to put the thing back togather & of course I couldn't take it back & the cord frayed & broke. I don't know who put mine togather but they didn't do a very good job. I could not for the life of me find an assembly sheet, so this video is a GODSEND!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!
The “Joy of Parasols” was never meant to be more than a single episode topic, it’s more aesthetic, painting counterpart however really hit a whammy. Now, after a ‘happy lil accident’, where did I put that chord?
Thank you! Mine was slightly different, but same idea. It tilts in the middle so it was a bit finicky to get the string past that part inside the tube.
Thanks for your video. My cord wasn’t broken. The nut on the gear side came undone. This particular model doesn’t have a cotter pin, but it has 2 slotted washers, one has tabs on it. One thing I found easier to put the fabric back on was after I got it screwed onto the frame, I put the it back up and put the ribs back into the pockets.
