Help for rethreading hubbed tent poles?

[Jenny A]

Reckoning Day is here.  My REI Half Dome 2+ tent needs new shock cord.  Problem is, there are two central hubs into which four poles anchor, and there is a small recessed plastic loop that cord for each pole needs to feed into.  It’s hard enough to access the loops, but the diameter is so small that new shock cord will not pull through when doubled.  I have spent enough time on this today.  REI has a video on restringing shock cord but conveniently skips over the part going through hubs.  Tentpole Technologies is a potential solution, but I’d like to be able to do this myself.

Seems like there was a thread on this not too long ago, but my recollection is that there was no great solution.  I’m hoping I missed something.

Anyone have experience re-shock-cording hubbed pole designs?  Any special tools that have proved useful?  I feel like this is doable, but I just need the right tip or tool.  Thanks for the help.

[Roger Caffin]

You can not PUSH the shock cord through. It expands as you push. You need to get some strong thin cord, or thread maybe, and PULL it through. It thins under tension.

Cheers

[Franco Darioli]

“You need to get some strong thin cord, or thread maybe, and PULL it through. It thins under tension“.

Yes, to about half of its non stretched size.

Try sewing  into the tip a strand of Dyneema or even just strong nylon thread and pull it through.

[Edward John M]

If that doesn’t work try using supaglue and some monofilament Whipper Snipper line, that has worked for me in small diametre poles

[Jenny A]

Hmmm, yes, good suggestions.  I also had the idea to maybe try some shrink wrap tubing, one end attached to the old shock cord and the other attached to the new so I could pull it through the tight loop.  I.  Will. Solve.  This.

[Jenny A]

Well, problem solved!  An astute tech in the Boulder REI had some experience with my tent model.  It turns out that embedded in each of the four hub openings is a small, cheesy, cheap plastic clip – imagine a plastic bobby pin with a “stopper” on the open end.  That clip can be pushed out the back end of the hub, new shock cord gets inserted into the loop end of the clip, the clip gets reinserted into the hub, and voila!  The rest is straightforward re-stringing.  That tech earned himself a nice 6-pack of good beer.  He saved me $20+ and two weeks of time.

OTOH, it would be nice if REI added 10 seconds of video showing that clip in their tent restringing how-to.  I took some photos but am technologically challenged when it comes to posting online.  If anyone has a similar issue, just post here and I might be able to walk through the process in more detail.

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