Poly Cord into Case

[ronsgto]

I have looked all over the forum and have not found any thing on this particular issue although I bet its there. My Zipdee awning fabric in good. The area where is is crimped into the case apparently had some poly cord in it which is now gone. I purchased new poly cord from Zipdee and now in need to fish it in the the fabrice along the sewed end. How in the world am I going to do that. I manage to get it in about 2 feet and starts to jam up. Some of you must have had sucess doning this and any suggestions would be great. I would think maybe some kind of lube but what, don't want to damage the fabric. This cord is probably 1/8th inch and I need to fish it down about 23 feet. I have as you can see a 1974 Overlander. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Ron L

[dznf0g]

If you don't have one, go to HD or wherever and get an electricians "fish tape" or wire. It'll come in handy for all sorts of stuff in the AS as well as in the home. It's stiff and you can run it all the way through the fabric, attach the rope with strong tape. (GOOD duct tape or gorilla tape) and pull the rope through.

[1bbboomer]

Try using a piece of solid insulated electrical wire.
You can get any length you need at lowes or home depot or just about any hardware store.
Straighten out the piece you want to use and feed it through the opening. Overlap the ends of the wire and the cord a couple inches and wrap them tightly together with electrical tape. End your tape wrap on the electrical wire and make sure the cord and wire are both completely covered to make sure there is no edge to catch on the fabric. If you keep the tape/cord as small as possible it should pull through with ease.
Working with an assistant pull the wire through while feeding the cord into the opening keeping everything as straight as possible.

[ronsgto]

Originally Posted by 1bbboomer

Try using a piece of solid insulated electrical wire.
You can get any length you need at lowes or home depot or just about any hardware store.
Straighten out the piece you want to use and feed it through the opening. Overlap the ends of the wire and the cord a couple inches and wrap them tightly together with electrical tape. End your tape wrap on the electrical wire and make sure the cord and wire are both completely covered to make sure there is no edge to catch on the fabric. If you keep the tape/cord as small as possible it should pull through with ease.
Working with an assistant pull the wire through while feeding the cord into the opening keeping everything as straight as possible.

I usually can think things through like that but it did not come to my mind but that sounds like a great idea. Thanks for all the replies on this forum it sure comes in handy.

Ron L

[ronsgto]

Originally Posted by dznf0g

If you don't have one, go to HD or wherever and get an electricians "fish tape" or wire. It'll come in handy for all sorts of stuff in the AS as well as in the home. It's stiff and you can run it all the way through the fabric, attach the rope with strong tape. (GOOD duct tape or gorilla tape) and pull the rope through.

That's and idea I will check and see how small of an electricians fish tape and can get. Thanks much.


Ron L

[shelocta]

Ron;
I just finished putting a ZipDee back together after replacing a broken spring. On mine they put the cord in and then sewed over it at each vertical seam. Could that be stopping you from pushing the cord in in.
Regards
Bill

[ronsgto]

Originally Posted by shelocta

Ron;
I just finished putting a ZipDee back together after replacing a broken spring. On mine they put the cord in and then sewed over it at each vertical seam. Could that be stopping you from pushing the cord in in.
Regards
Bill

I will look into that but Zipdee did not indicate anything like that when I talked to them. They just said its tough but you can fish it thorough. I will try electricians fish tape and update the forum with my result.


Ron L

[ronsgto]

Originally Posted by shelocta

Ron;
I just finished putting a ZipDee back together after replacing a broken spring. On mine they put the cord in and then sewed over it at each vertical seam. Could that be stopping you from pushing the cord in in.
Regards
Bill

Yes Bill that is just what I found. Did you have to do anything with the poly cord or just replace the spring. Looks like I need to undue the thread and each one of the seems or the cord will not go through. I wonder what kind of cord they orignialy used cause its gone now.

Ron L

[Bowmans]

Ronsgto,
Hopefully you were successful with your awning repair. We had to fish the cord through ours also and found the stitching vertical seams went right over the cord. We used a seam ripper and removed the seams and were able to fish it through using an electrical wire (as mentioned above). We also had to repair some other seams so we back stictched over the seams ends we removed so they would not come undone.