How can I restring a patio umbrella?

Here are the steps I just used to repair the string on my patio umbrella:

1. Take a wire coat hangar and straiten it so it is perfectly straight. Cut away any areas that corkscrew by the neck of the hangar. Now bend the end with a needle-nose plier to make small hook.

2. Take new string and place in hooked end of straightened coat hangar and use pliers to compress hook on to string.

3. From the top of the pole where the pulley is run hangar with string attached down inside of the pole. On my pole there is a small access hole halfway between the pulley and the crank. Use needle-nose pliers to pull string out access hole and off of hangar.

4. Remove hangar from pole.

5. Disassemble crank. Be careful not to lose any washers/springs/screws/etc.

6. Reattach end of string to the hook in the end of the hanger and reinsert the hanger, hook end firts, into the access hole in the pole. Run the hangar with attached sting down to the hole that the crank inserts into.

7. Remove string from hangar and pull through hole in tube for crank axle with needle-nose pliers.

8. Ensure all parts of crank-side of assembly are in place on crank axle. Push string through hole in center of axle and tie a knot...tie a second knot as a backup.

9. Shove knotted end into the umbrella tube via the hole for the crank axle. Then insert crank axle into the hole in the tube.

10. To get things to seat properly you may need to tug on the end of the string hanging out the top of the umbrella as you push the crank assembly into place.

11. Reassemble the other side of the crank assembly, which should consist of tightening down nut on the end of the crank axle. The pressure from the tightened down nut is what keeps the opened umbrella from closing on itself so make it snug but do not over tighten or you can damage the crank assembly or the tubing.

12. run the free hanging end over the pulley and down the outside of the umbrella's tube. There should be a hole in the yoke that sits around the tube (the yoke supports the canopy of the umbrella and is what moves up and down the tubing to open and close the umbrella). slide the end of the string through the hole in the yoke. Tie a knot in the end of the string.

13. The above steps should have been conducted with the umbrella canopy open. DO NOT turn the crank to close the canopy at this point...just manual push the yoke down and fold the canopy around the pole.

14. Now that the canopy is closed, make note of the direction you need to turn your crank to open the umbrella and carefully turn in that direction to wind the cord on the crank and test the umbrella.

15. Grab some ice tea and enjoy your patio furniture.

This took me about 45 min of trial and error to figure out but I am sure I can do it in less than 20 now that I have done it. It sure would have been nice to have these instructions before I started...would have been easier and quicker.

***note***
If your tube does not have an access hole halfway between the pulley and the crank, I suggest drilling a hole so you can retrieve the end of the string as a coat hangar will not reach the entire length of the tube from top to crank.

Jeff
August 2008

I solved it by getting to the crank. I did not have to disassemble the crank. unwound the string. You can re-tie new here if you need to. I unscrewed the pulley and took it out. Tied a heavy flat object to the string and dropped it down the tube. I pulled the string out of the pulley hole. Realigned the string on the pulley. Assembled the pulley back into the tube and tied the string to the outer cylinder. Reassemble the casing around the crank. Turned out not to be very hard.

Mspencer
May 2008