Do you have a destroyed c-clip or other pole end fitting? Read on to find a quick and easy way to replace it. First, the c-clips or the end fittings in your poles are punched into secure them. So, there’s a punch mark on both sides, and they secure the fitting in place. First, you’ll need a drill with a suitable size drill bit and drill out each punch mark.
On the outer pole, it’s easy to get the fitting out. First, back off that wing nut, and use the inner pole as a battering ram.
What you do, is using the inner pole, just gently keep tapping until it pops out, ready to fit the new one. Now with c-clips, you need to be particularly careful that the c-clip aligns with the wing nut. If the wing nut is sitting up at 90 degrees, you need to put your c-clip in so it sits 90 degrees the other way. So that way, you can clip it onto your ridge pole, and the wing nut will hang down so it’s nice and easy to get to, and you can tighten it up.
Now you have two choices. To re-secure the c-clip, you can put a pop rivet in there, one each side, and it’s secure. If you’re a habitual c-clip breaker, that’ll be handy because it’s very easy to drill the pop rivet out again. Or what you can do, is use a punch and re-punch the outer metal and secure the c-clip on both sides. We recommend the pop rivet. It’s so easy. You’ve already got the hole there, ready to go. That is our pole repaired, c-clip replaced. It doesn’t get much easier than that. What you will need to remember though, if you break the c-clip or the fitting on the inner pole, you’ll need a threaded rod or some kind of metal bar to tap the fitting out on some occasions. Same again, drill out the little pin marks each side, and it’ll come out freely.
How good is that folks? Really easy to replace. If you’re in a hurry for things like c-clips or the pole fittings, and you haven’t got time to get MDC to mail them out to you, you can actually get these at camping stores, BCF, and outdoors and camping stores. They do all stock them, so don’t be shy to head in there. Just remember, you’ll want to know the c-clip size. Generally, there’ll be 19mm or 16mm. There will be exceptions to that but know what size you want to go in the pole.
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