JohnnyBs98WS6Rag

iTrader: (1)

I had posed this question in another thread some years ago, I finally got around to doing something about it yesterday. I've got pictures on my phone to show what I did, but I haven't pulled them off yet to finish this thread, so this post is merely a placeholder temporarily. So keep an eye on this space.

JohnnyBs98WS6Rag

iTrader: (1)

Here's a picture of my passenger side, which is still intact (my top is 1/2-up so this can be seen and worked-on more easily):


Here's my broken strap on the drivers' side (its more like the loop-side of a Velcro strap than it is elastic):



Thankfully, a snap (like on your jeans) is used to secure the "loose" end of the strap so that it can be hooked onto the metal bar during assembly. The side towards the inner liner is sewn onto the inner lining material. Fortunately, there was ~ 1/2-3/4" of strap beyond the place where it is sewn that allows me to attach a repair splice.

JohnnyBs98WS6Rag

iTrader: (1)

For the repair, I used a 1" x ~2" wide piece of Velcro (soft fuzzy loop-side only) to bridge the gap left by the break. This had sticky adhesive on the back which allowed me to get it in a good position to secure it with staples:

JohnnyBs98WS6Rag

iTrader: (1)

I took the loose end and stuck it to the back of the "patch" piece and secured it with staples as well. I left a little gap between the two original pieces in hopes that it would reduce the tension on this strap enough to prevent another break:

JohnnyBs98WS6Rag

iTrader: (1)

Here's it reattached. Hopefully the staples don't pull out of what is left of the original Velcro piece sewn to the inner liner because that will be a more complicated repair. My only concern with this repair is that the staples may scratch the metal bar after a few up/down cycles:



I'd be interested if anyone has a different approach to this repair or other ideas. Thanks.