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I yanked the zip puller off a jacket (back plate sheared from front) and would like to repair it. The repair place I spoke to said replacing the puller rarely works and it could use a new zip at £££. Has anyone used a kit or Youtube** technique to replace a puller? It looks easy and the jacket doesn't owe me loads (seven year old TK Maxx ski jacket) so I'd rather not spend £40 on having a new weatherproof zip fitted.
** e.g. plier off the top stop from the correct side, pop the new slider, nip on a new top stop. I have a good selection of pliers.
Yes, I've done it a few times without problems. Lots of YKK zip pulls on eBay / Amazon, you just need to work out which size you need - it usually, I think, says on the old pull. There's also a Swedish, I think, company which makes replacement clip-on zip pulls which you can fit without having to slide over the end, but they're relatively expensive.
Edit: or these things, lots of similar options on eBay, someone in China's been copying the Swedes I guess.
https://www.stormsure.com/zlideon-zip-slider-size-5b.html
https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/ZlideOn/Homepage/page/65947101-F813-477A-A8E5-F380991F503B
We've just had the same on the youngest's winter coat.
Our solution was to remove a zip puller from one of the pockets by cutting the zip at the end.
Then either unpick the top of the zip on the side of the jacket that the puller stays on when unzipped (or more likely cut it just below the top as you'll unlikely unpick it without making a big mess).
Thread on your 'new' puller. Check that it works and then sew a small tab of fabric over the cut in the top end so that the puller can't come off.
Same use of a sacrificed pocket puller may work for you if the pockets have the same zips.
The clip on ones look good.
I've just snapped the 'puller' off the main zip for an Altura top. Popped a safety clip through what was left of the zip and bent it into a loop with pliers, cutting off the excess. Then took one of the 'rope' pullers off the rear zip (don't use it) and attached to the main zip.
Thanks all.
24 hours later I'm a zip expert. One thing I've learnt for this jacket and other outdoor gear that has a water resistant sleeve that closes over the teeth is that as well as hiving a slider / pull for the right width and mechanism you may also need a 'reverse coil' zip pull. This is different in that the slider guides are cut to feed both the zip and the material that sits over the top of the zip.
I know this because I salvaged an old size 5 coil YKK puller from a rarely used pack inside pocket but it doesn't work as it's not a reverse zip and as such the cover material 'jams' the mechanism.
See https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/Basic_or_Reverse_Coil_Zipper
The only time I’ve ever managed to properly fix a broken zip was on an old leather bike jacket I bought secondhand from a shop in Bath. The original main zip had been replaced, and the pull tab wasn’t anywhere near as good as the original one, which was aluminium. Instead it was a cheap plated zinc, and eventually the ‘bar’ that went through the part of the zip that locks and unlocks just snapped.
I think I managed to get a thin bit of cord through in a loop with a knot on the end, but it didn’t really work very well, and I needed something a bit more substantial.
Here’s the jacket, which I’ve had since the early 80’s…
Here’s a close-up of the original zip…
Here’s what I did as a replacement…
It’s basically two ice-lolly sticks glued together with a piece of a large diameter needle cut down and set in a groove in the wood. I’m very pleased with how it turned out, I tapered it slightly, it looked better than just rectangular. This jacket is quite important to me, enough to spend out on having the lining taken out to have broken stitching repaired that was holding the jacket together, then the lining put back and restitched where seams had also com apart, and all that because of what’s on the lining…
