Broken Ariat zipper pull fix?

[Heinz_57]

So yesterday, as I was zipping up one of my tall boots, the zipper pull popped off. I didn’t think much of it at the time besides ‘well, that sucks’, pulled the zipper the rest of the way up by hand and proceeded to wear them all day. Until… I went to take them off when I got home and realized I was STUCK. Absolutely could not get the zipper to budge, not with pliers or any of the other tools I managed to find. I ended up cutting the laces and squeezing my way out of the still-zipped boot in a very painful fashion.

Upon closer examination today, there is some sort of inner mechanism that the pull goes through that allows the zipper to move when you pull on it, but keeps it from slipping down like a regular zipper when not in use. I managed to stick a bobby pin with the plastic knob cut off through and get it back down, but WTF can I do to fix this long term? The boots are 6-7 years old, the Crowne Pros, so I assume are well beyond the stage where I could contact Ariat about it. The hole is too small to fit one of those zipper loops through and I can’t walk around with a bobby pin sticking off the back of my boot indefinitely. And I certainly don’t want to repeat the frantic struggle to GET THIS BOOT OFF ME NOW, where I seriously considered cutting myself out.

Ideas? Is it possible to have just the pull tab replaced? I absolutely cannot afford to replace them right now. I’m afraid they may have to replace the entire zipper…

[EmJ628]

they might have to replace the whole zipper. I’d contact Ariat about it, the worst they can tell you is no Did you try a paper clip? Maybe that would work the zipper and not have as much of a raw edge that would scratch your tack?

[NoSuchPerson]

I had the same thing happen to one of my half chaps. I took it in to the shoe repair place (the guy is really good, works on shoes, boots, chaps…) and was told my only option was to replace the zipper.

[LetItBe]

On my Ariat half chaps I’ve got a piece of a light cord which I use to pull the zippers up and down. Maybe you could find a sturdy black cord that fits through the opening?

LetItBe

[SonnysMom]

[QUOTE=LetItBe;8043593]
On my Ariat half chaps I’ve got a piece of a light cord which I use to pull the zippers up and down. Maybe you could find a sturdy black cord that fits through the opening?

LetItBe[/QUOTE]

Small black zip tie?

[EmJ628]

Heinz kudos to you for getting out of the boot. I think leg claustrophobia would have set in for me!

[Heinz_57]

[QUOTE=EmJ628;8043738]
Heinz kudos to you for getting out of the boot. I think leg claustrophobia would have set in for me![/QUOTE]

Fortunately, it didn’t occur to me that I could have easily just cut right down the side of the zipper cloth. I had to work it for about 15 minutes, standing on the heel with my other foot and wiggling around before I managed to get free, especially with the slim ankles they put on zip boots. I figured new laces are cheap, at least. I will try the paper clip…got lots of those laying around!

[Lord_Helpus]

A small black “cable tie” (the little thing with ‘teeth’ that prevents the tie from slipping). Cable ties are right up there with WD40 and Duck tape for fixing things.

[fanfayre]

they’re known around here as “zap-straps”, and I just did the same thing to the pull tap on one of my 1/2 chaps as I was doing it up. A zap-strap and the zip works better than ever.