One of the few issues I’ve had with my GORUCK GR1 is the zipper pulls. My dog has a knack for sniffing out food and I’m not the best at keeping my ruck out of reach of him. This has led to him unzipping my pack with his teeth and pulling the food out numerous times. There’s never any damage to the GR1 but the tubing on the paracord zipper pulls has been all but completely torn off. This may not be exactly what happens to you but the repair is the same either way.
Necessary Equipment
You’ll need the following to complete this repair:
- Paracord
- Heat Shrink Tubing
- Lighter (or Hair Dryer/Heat Gun)
- Scissors or Knife
GORUCK sells kits that include paracord and heat shrink tubing for $6 in four colors: Black, Ranger Green, Wolf Grey, and OD Green.
The Repair or Modification
Here is a quick 8 step process on how to repair or modify your zipper pulls.
Step One: Find Zipper Pull
First you need to figure out which zipper pull you’re going to modify. Locating the zipper pull is the first step.
Step Two: Remove Zipper Pull
Use some scissors to cut the old zipper pull off of your ruck or backpack.
Step Three: Paracord Through Zipper
Run your piece of paracord through the zipper.
Step Four: Heat Shrink
Put both strands of the paracord through the piece of heat shrink.
Step Five: Burn Heat Shrink
There’s three ways to melt the heat shrink… lighter, hair dryer, or heat gun. The cheap way is to find a lighter and just burn it all over. The second & third ways (which GORUCK uses) is to apply heat with a heat gun or hair dryer.
Step Six: Tie Ends
Tie the paracord ends together to make a knot. Tie the knot as close to the heat shrink as you’d like. I prefer the closer the better but you may have a different preference.
Step Seven: Clip and Burn Ends
Clip the extra paracord off of the ends. Grab your lighter and burn the ends of the paracord so that it won’t unravel.
Step Eight: Complete
There you have it! Your zipper pull is now modified and now so much better. Congratulations!