I recently purchased a 10' offset umbrella about a month ago. It is perfect for use on my small patio. Some neighbors just relieved me of two folding chairs from the patio and took the liberty to break my nice new umbrella! The rope mechanism is broken. I am a single lady and do not know anything about repairs of ANY type. :confused: Can someone tell me how to repair/replace the rope in a hand crank offset umbrella? Thanks, so much! Prittigrrrl1;)

I am looking for this same anser! Anyone?

This can be done as I have repaired two offset deck umbrellas in the last couple of years. In both cases the original rope had worn, and once cranked too tight, snapped. The trick is to NOT pull the original rope out of the support bar until you tie a new replacement rope onto the broken piece and then use the old rope to pull the new rope into place around the crank. Should you fail to do this, you will need about ten feet of stiff wire to use as a wire-pull. Other than that - it's not too tough a job. You'll need some good quality, thin, nylon rope from the hardware store to replace the original. Then with a friend, disassemble the umbrella and all of its parts and lay them out on the ground. This is really pretty straight-forward. Tie the new rope into the umbrella tip and work your way towards the crank. Depending upon the manufacturer, you may be able to pop-out a cover over where the rope attaches to the umbrella tip for easy access. Have a friend handy to help hold the umbrella pieces as you work the rope from the umbrella tip, through the frame and into the hand-crank area. The crank itself should have a cover which is removable. The toughest part is threading the new rope through the old steel tube-frame. Once the new rope is threaded from the umbrella tip, through all the frame pieces and into the crank - cut off the excess rope and thread the rope onto the crank and reassemble all the pieces.

See also:

http://www.southernpatio.com/images/...brokenrope.pdf

Once more... Re-assemble the url below:

http://www.southernpatio.com/images/

Productdocs/howtochangeabrokenrope.pdf

I found the instructions in the link to be a little too confusing for me. I think it's easier if you understand that offset umbrellas have a single piece of rope that is tied in a ratcheting mechanism (turn handle) and pull at the tip of the umbrella to pull it open. When the string breaks the umbrella closes and is limp. The ratcheting mechanism allows you to hold it taut. The string connects at the tip through something that looks like a bead. It's only real function is to prevent the rope from slipping through. Therefore when you have a break you basically need to replace the whole string.

Most instructions tell you that if you broke the string you can use the piece of broken string attach it to a new string and pull it into the ratchet mechanism. The rationale for this is that it simplifies threading the string through the pole. It is only difficult to thread the string if there are a few turns (there's one usually at the end) and if there are any small holes to thread through. I found that there was one small hole at the tip, but none near the ratcheting mechanism and yes my new rope got stuck at the corner. The truth is that most of us don't know the rope broke and so we already pulled it all the way in. I found two things make it easier to put the new rope through.

1. You can get higher grade rope that is actually metal wire with plastic around it. Check at Home Depot and make sure you don't get something that is thicker than the current rope or at least not much thicker. The reason not to go too much thicker is that some of the holes you have to thread through may not accommodate a thicker rope. The higher grade rope/wire will be much more rigid and will thread relatively easily.
2. How do you get across the corner. Most of us think you have to start at one end and go to the other end. If instead you start at the corner and take one piece and thread it down and the other the other way you will find that you have turned the corner into a starting place and essentially eliminated it as an issue.

If you try to attach a similar or thinner rope to the existing rope you will be able to do the repair, but you won't be able to improve upon the existing rope. The reason it broke is that it's cheap and it wears quickly especially in the wind. Most good rope is rated about 40-50 pounds. That's not a lot and in the elements with water etc it will break again. If you learn to completely rethread without attaching to the existing rope you can find better thicker rope. I found at Home Depot they had a really nice wire rope with a plastic housing. It was rated 120Kg or about six times as strong as what was in there. The likelihood that this sucker will break is pretty low and I won't have to worry much about over tightening.

You will find that you can pop off various pieces to reveal the bead at the tip and in some places there are tips that remove that make threading easier. Always look for the seam it will make your life easier. Finally, take a picture of the ratchet mechanism right when you open it and as you pull it apart. I guarantee you that if you don't you will find all the pieces will come off quickly and fly all over the place. You will then have to go to the pictures from the links in the other emails to see if you can put it together right. It may take a few tries to get it right. Therefore its much easier to take the picture at each step so you can easily figure out the order of the bolts and nuts.

Good Luck

Wow that's great. A lot of good information on how to fix an offset umbrella. Good stuff.

Wow that's great. Good content about how to fix an offset umbrella

Woah sorry I didn't realise it posted. Woops.

Thank you thank you thank you! I too am a single woman with a quickly fraying rope on my umbrella. I am so happy to know how to replace it before the old one breaks.

What if it's not the rope?
What if a sudden take up wind flips and inverts the umbrella, even breaking a few supports... and knocking the center hub out of alignment... what say you then?! :)
The rope mechanism is fine, still taunt and seems to want to function - The canopy raises up and down the pole with no resistance, it's the framework of the center support that is nested at the top which have me a bit puzzled.
I can see what is necessary to repair the support arms that snapped, and believe that will go easy enough (paticularly to strengthen it better then how it was manufactured) - but re-assembling it all back into position is where / what I could use help with - any suggestions ? Ideas?

I am trying to replace the crank system of my umbrella and I can not seem to get it to lock

The rope broke on my cantilever umbrella,To repair this rope is a piece of cake.I have a bad problem though. I took apart the crank and it has a ratchet system [kinda like a boat trailer winch with teeth and a cog] to keep it from reversing'How does the handle turn in reverse when the cog keeps it from doing so. There is not any method of releasing the cog from the gear.

It may be released by the tension of the rope.

Riped ( torn in one spot )outdor umbrella

Ow to repair a rip ( torn in one spot) outdoor umbella

Do you have any idea where to get parts for an offset umbrella? The plastic piece where the arm goes up and down broke, and I can't find any replacement parts. Mine has a straight post, with a curved arm that swings the umbrella out, and raises it up and down. Where the curved arm meets the straight post there is a locking handle, and a cuff around the curved arm, and that is what broke.
Than ks for any help.

I could not get the URL to work, Is SouthernPatio still supporting these umbrellas?
Can you try the URL and let me know?

Need to replace the plastic cowling that goes around the "arm" and slides up/down as it's raised and lowered.