Do try this at home: leather jacket repair tips

[r.biker]

I don’t have the jacket, so idk what’s inside, but the easiest stitching to remove would be either left or right vertical line of stitching where I circled in red, either the outside stitching or the internal stitching (use your judgment). You’d want the hole to be large enough to remove what’s inside.

If you actually end up removing what’s inside, let us know what it is. I’m curious.


View attachment 721792

So I undid one side, its basically a block of cardboard but annoyingly stitched all round along the bottom, sides and that top stitch above the belt loops.

So I've dropped it into my local tailors to remove for £25. Not bad really, the jacket only actually set me back about £45 which for these I think is a pretty good deal. Im not sure why AMF/Harley would have put this in there, its not really protective and to me its odd when the rest of the jacket has a great patina and wear to then have a stiff board along the bottom of the jacket...

Fingers crossed it works out well.

 

[r.biker]

https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/how-i-repair-and-clean-up-paint-on-leather.109696/

Unfortunately this didnt work for me. Back to the drawing board / leaving it as is

 

[jchance]

My Kit jacket came with one sleeve missing the zipper pull. It was working fine, and I should have left it alone. Like an idiot, I started messing with it in hopes of being able to install a new zipper pull. Instead, I broke several of the teeth and the zipper slider came off. This Conmar zipper was done for.

I had a spare 8” Talon zipper, so i figured why not. It took about 7 hours and 6 rows of hand-stitching each piece on top of one another, but it was an easy sewing job. If I didn’t keep the leather gusset inside, it would have been 4 rows of hand-stitching back and forth. No sewing machine necessary. I did not need to puncture new holes on the leather because I could just use the existing holes, I just needed to locate the existing holes with the needle tip. (Thanks to @photo2u for this tip.)

Now the sleeves have two different colors for zippers, one silver and one brass, but it looks kind of cool to me. It signals a custom job, if anything.

I’ll attempt the 20.5” main zipper replacement by hand next, once a spring-loaded Crown zipper arrives. I figured if I were to replace the zipper by hand, I might as well spend a little more for the gold-standard of zipper.

Before:


After:

 

[photo2u]

My Kit jacket came with one sleeve missing the zipper pull. It was working fine, and I should have left it alone. Like an idiot, I started messing with it in hopes of being able to install a new zipper pull. Instead, I broke several of the teeth and the zipper slider came off. The zipper was done.

I had a spare 8” Talon zipper, so i figured why not. It took about 7 hours and 6 rows of hand-stitching each piece on top of one another, but it was an easy sewing job. If I didn’t keep the leather gusset inside, it would have been 4 rows of hand-stitching back and forth. No sewing machine necessary. I did not need to puncture new holes on the leather because I could just use the existing holes, I just needed to locate the existing holes with the needle tip.

Now the sleeves have two different colors for zippers, one silver and one brass, but it looks kind of cool to me. It signals a custom job, if anything.

I’ll attempt the 20.5” main zipper replacement by hand next, once a spring-loaded Crown zipper arrives. I figured if I were to replace the zipper by hand, I might as well spend a little more for the gold-standard of zipper.

Before:
View attachment 740364

After:
View attachment 740365
View attachment 740366

Very well done. Nice early 40s nickel plated hardware. Now, you can try that main zipper.

 

[jchance]

So I've opened up the lining once more and found something I wasn't expecting: an elastic band! It has only come undone on one side so this actually looks like an easy fix.

View attachment 416237 View attachment 416239

Re attached:

View attachment 416235

I thought this would have done the trick... but unfortunately it didn't. As you can see the top part of the gusset is now pulled in but the bottom part is still bulging out :

View attachment 416240

I asked Greg for advice and it turns out he always installs two bands. So two bands it will be...

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Broke a needle during the process... horsehide is though material.

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End result...

View attachment 416231

As you can see the gussets don't look 100% clean yet, I think the leather will need to settle a bit. It certainly looks 10 times better than before.

View attachment 416236

Next up: replacing the main zip slider. To be continued...

I must have read this post tens of times and didn’t understand what it means. Months later, I finally did. I’m glad you did it on a Kit jacket that I now own one too. I had the same issue with the bi-wing action back not folding back in correctly, and it now does after adding two extra elastic bands. The front even drapes better when wearing it unzipped. Thanks so much!

Steve Seller on VLJ also noted that the elastic bands on vintage leather jackets lose their elasticity over time and become useless. I noticed the budging back on my Al Crowes due to a stretched out elastic band, and redid it to be a tight elastic band. I’m not sure if it has done the trick yet, but that was a necessary fix for older jackets.

 

[jchance]

This is a question for those DIYers. Japanese leather jackets tend to have a back length of at least 1-2” too long. I’m thinking of undoing the following line of stitching and either wear it as is, or restitch (by hand) it to be 1-1.25” higher. The new stitching line would be 1” up from where it currently is, with more leather hiding in the empty space at the bottom of the jacket. It’s just one row of stitching around the jacket, doesn’t seem to be that hard. Has anyone successfully done this? Thoughts?

It may affect resale value but wth, life is too short to care about that sort of things.

 

[cbez]

It will be hugging that back cinch. does it have a lining?

If you do a gradual curve it might go okay.

 

[jchance]

It will be hugging that back cinch. does it have a lining?

If you do a gradual curve it might go okay.

It does have a thin cotton lining, but nothing I can’t cut or fold upward if necessary.

 

[cbez]

It does have a thin cotton lining, but nothing I can’t cut or fold upward if necessary.

Are you trying to do the entire thing or just the back?

If there is taper you would end up with extra material on the hem.

 

[jchance]

Are you trying to do the entire thing or just the back?

If there is taper you would end up with extra material on the hem.

The entire thing, I’d like to shorten the jacket by 1-1.25”. But I like the gradual curve idea, where necessary. For instance, where the button hole and the metal button are, those can’t be moved up. So it’s either gradual curve or cut the excess materials.

CHP crosszip uses the gradual curve at the back kidney panel, so the above idea won’t look out of place.

 

[jchance]

Main zipper replacement with a 2nd model, spring-loaded Crown #6 took 2 days, about 16 hours, of work, but it’s done. Just needle and thread by hand, no machine. About 6 rows of stitching of the 20” zipper, so 120” total of stitching length, not that bad. I was able to add 1-1.5” to the waist and 0.5” to the pit-to-pit by moving the stitching line (with arrows pointing) more left by utilizing some leather from the leather panel underneath with the folding wool lining.

I also removed the attached belt, not a fan of the hanging belt with the heavy metal belt buckle. With the lining and the leather separated at the main zipper’s opening, this took 0.5-1 hours total. If I change my mind about wearing a belt later, I’d probably add a belt loop in the back and use a regular belt.

Thanks to @photo2u for the encouragement / tips and @Yamahana for the bar studs!

Before

After

Where belt was, on both sides

 

[Retserrof]

Hi all, just wondering if this damage on an underarm pleat is fixable? What exactly has gone on here?

Thank you!

 

[LordOfLeather]

Leather jacket repairs can be costly and can sometimes even exceed the jacket's value. Luckily some fixes are easy to do yourself. Let's share our experiences, tips and tricks.

Busted auto lock slider

When a zipperslider moves up or down on its own while wearing the jacket, the auto lock pin might be defect.

Based on the slider puller position, the locking pin should lock/unlock the slider:

View attachment 351521

When you look closely you can see how in this case the pin has been grinded down, which makes the slider go up or down on its own. The easiest way to fix this is by replacing the slider.

View attachment 351525

The one on the right is the old one, the one on the left the replacement. You can clearly see the locking pin on the right is shorter.

In order to replace the slider, the zipper's top stop needs to be removed. Simply use pliers and some force to pull it off, or wiggle it open using a small screwdriver. Be careful not to puncture the tape.

View attachment 351529

Once removed, the old slider comes off and the new one can be installed. Make sure the replacement fits the size of the zipper. Most vintage/repro jackets feature #5 zippers. Newer ones often come with #8 or #10 size zippers.

View attachment 351528

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After installing the replacement slider, use the pliers again to reinstall the old top stop or install a new one.

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Job completed. As a bonus, the Talon paperclip pull looks much nicer too.

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I saw this post years ago and it gave me the confidence to tackle this on my own, should I ever encounter this issue. Well, the opportunity arose. I bought a replacement slider for $2.50 on amazon and the job itself took less than 5 minutes. The only challenge was getting the new slider onto the tape, as the tape was somewhat frayed and thicker than the gap in the slider. A simple fix was to pinch a small piece of packing tape over the zipper tape, creating a smooth, thin, entry point of sorts for the slider. Worked like a charm!

Thanks again for sharing your experience. This simple job would have cost a lot more had I taken it somewhere.

 

[Leather Walker]

Folks, I could use some advice. Is there a simple DIY way to fix this? The inner ring on the male side of the four snaps has popped out, so the female side won’t attach anymore.

I’m not sure how this happened—maybe an incomplete installation? Has anyone else experienced this, or seen it? I’ve got the same issue on the coin pocket of my Lesco. I’m all ears! Thank you in advance.

 

[Chevalier]

Hi all, just wondering if this damage on an underarm pleat is fixable? What exactly has gone on here?

Thank you!
View attachment 751298

Do you think this could be secondary effects due to the leather drying out (and shrinking) over time? I notice similar spots at the pocket joints of one of my jackets. I think it shows up more starkly when the leather has a contrasting core color.

 

[barnabus]

I've just bought a cowhide jacket off eBay with the idea of working on it a little.

It appears to have a grease or oil stain on the front, reflected in the price but not the seller's description.

Luckily I'm not averse to throwing a leather jacket in the washing machine and rewaxing or whatever as necessary. It'll be washed on a warm cycle with detergent which may or may not alleviate the issue.

But my question is this: if my usual wash doesn't clean things up, what would you use to "oil" a jacket? And subsequent to oiling, could I then apply my usual hand-waxing?

If anybody has tried this before I'd love to hear, otherwise I'll just wing it like I usually do.

 

[mdgnowles]

I've just bought a cowhide jacket off eBay with the idea of working on it a little.

It appears to have a grease or oil stain on the front, reflected in the price but not the seller's description.

View attachment 776997

Luckily I'm not averse to throwing a leather jacket in the washing machine and rewaxing or whatever as necessary. It'll be washed on a warm cycle with detergent which may or may not alleviate the issue.

But my question is this: if my usual wash doesn't clean things up, what would you use to "oil" a jacket? And subsequent to oiling, could I then apply my usual hand-waxing?

If anybody has tried this before I'd love to hear, otherwise I'll just wing it like I usually do.

Your going to need use dish soap and emulsify the oil in several steps, flushing with water over and over first. Then you might be able to stabilize the entire jacket with spray bottle and distilled water Emulsion of obenauf's leather oil before dry. This is not going to be fixed in a day.

 

[raf]

Concur with the above. This link may provide added context/info: https://www.nycjackets.com/blog/how-to-get-oil-out-of-leather/

This second link goes into more depth, suggest you read both links fully: https://www.makerofjacket.com/how-to-remove-grease-and-oil-stains-from-leather-jackets/