I picked up this door pocket for my 61 F100 several years ago and never got the zipper to move. Any suggestions.
Tomato ketchup. Let it soak. Then use Dawn Dishwashing Liquid as a lubricant. The ketchup has acetic acid and the tomato in it will react with the brass to free up whatever crud is built up. Soap is a good lubricant. Lot of people use bar soap on the bottom of wooden drawers to make them slide. If this fails use some white lithium grease. It does wonders with cranky locking mechanisms.
2x on the clap stick ,bar soap to stop it from happening again, also works great on snaps ( boat covers, ect )
Thanks guys. I had already tried WD40 with no luk, I'll try these suggestions, probably not all at one .
Give us some feedback on how it came out, I have some zippers on my boat canvas that are the same as that that need some attention.
That can sometimes make them worse. Soak the area with white vinegar and leave it overnight. It will disolve any oxidation. Usually the WD40 will create a barrier for the vinegar. Once you get it freed, use skateboard graphite as a lube
Graphite powder is great and crap doesn’t stick to it. The key is to get it moving forward first before trying to undo.
Lanolin...ie GOJO. It will lubricate and not harm the vinyl. Some of these suggestions could wreck that white vinyl. I have one of these pockets NOS for my '64 (it's also hard to zip) Some of the battle you are facing is the plasticizers have left in the last 50 years and the material has shrunk, removing from the box should have helped some, but there is residual tension on the zipper, the arc adds another layer of difficulty
Have a shop that does boat canvas,or leather repair sew in a new one. A local shoe repair sewed a new zipper in my 50 year old motorcycle jacket,and it didnt cost a fortune.Who ever said if its got tits,or a automatic transmission eventually it will give you trouble forgot zippers.........
That's an option, bit you still have 50 year old material. Bob Drake offers a pair of repop door pockets, with new chrome plastic trim for around $200. I will say the repop pockets are nice, but they only come in black vinyl and the material is not as heavy as the originals.
That's an idea, but if I went that route I think I'd have them make a whole new thing, zipper and nice shiny white vinyl. I have thought about just skipping the vinyl thing and just installing the pocket and trim. It almost seems like the vinyl might make the pocket less usable. But I like the isea of getting the zipper working, anyhow.
Use the white vinegar trick, and be patient. Also could you show us a "Close-up" of the slider from the other side. [the puller] Some sliders are of the "locking type" with a metal locking spring with a tooth that locks into the zip. If you pull too hard on one of these it will damage the zip. You need to get a needle under the spring and lift it [and slide it] These type of sliders are very common on Tents where a zip is sometimes left halfway
Wel I've soaked a few inches of the zipper (at the clasp) in white vineger for about three days to no avail.
it looks as if the material on edge is caught under zipper.the one side shows more teeth than other which I think is if material is caught and it was forced down it may have jammed may try closing it will be hard but may be only way.once (if)closed than lubing with wax etc hopefully it will work.good luck
If its still stuck, get a quick un pick for sewing stitches . Get your upholstery shop to fit a new zipper.
BINGO! That insight made it possible to get the zipper fully open! THANKS! I grabbed the tab with a pair of pliers and pushed it back towards Open and the towards open a bit less, a few teeth at a time. Once I got past the caught material I just kept working the tab abck and forth a few teeth at a time until it finally popped open a few inches at a time. Still very dirty, but at least it works, now to clean it up so it works smoothly.
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