How do I replace a brittle or broken shock cord?

Written By: VAUDE Reparaturteam

Comments: 2

How do I replace a brittle or broken shock cord?

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

30 minutes

Introduction

Shock cords hold the segments of a tent pole together making tent set up faster. Over the years, the cord can become brittle and break. We’ll show you step by step instructions for removing the old shock cord and replacing it with a new one.

Tools

Parts

Gestängegummi

Step 1

First, check if you really need to replace the cord. The following criteria can be helpful in your decision: cord has lost, elasticity, rough surfaces. damaged areas

Step 2

Put all segments together so that you have one long tent pole.

Put all segments together so that you have one long tent pole.

Step 3

Pull out the end pin on one side and cut off the knot. Then pull the shock cord out completely from the other end of the pole.

Some poles don't have an end pin, notably out of the 2 tent poles of the Taurus UL 2P, only one end has an end pin, the other three is just a hollow tube end. Hard to explain without adding photos (happy to send some) but the cord ends with a knot held by a washer, and is stopped in the middle of the tube, where the inner diameter must gets narrower. To get it out, use a thin knitting needle or barbecue stick and, getting in at the next junction, push the knot and washer out towards the end of the pole. You need a needle long enough or a second one to push the first one - it works!

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Step 4

Attach the new shock cord to the pin and tie a knot in it.

Step 5

Thread the loose shock cord end through the tent pole.

Step 6

When the shock cord is hanging out of the tent pole with a fair amount of excess, insert the pin back into the pole at the other end.

Step 7

At the other end, pull the shock cord taught – with about one arm’s length of tension in the cord.
In order to keep this tension for the next step, hold the shock cord to the pole with your fingers.

Another way to get the length of the new shock cord is to measure the total length of all sections of the pole - that will be the stretched length of the cord. Multiplying that by 0.75 (as seen on this instructables tutorial) gives the relaxed length of the cord you'll need. Mark it with a felt pen/sharpie or, if your cord is black, by tying a thin thread at the right location. But only cut it after it's threaded through all the poles.

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