SBW#14 - Graber Vertical Blind Repair

My Graber vertical blinds started getting some slats that were no longer turning. My first thought was to replace the entire blinds so they matched the others in the house but after getting a price estimate I decided that was no longer an option. After all, fixing something many times is much more cost effective than replacing something outright. So I decided I would try to repair them instead.
In this video I show what I did to change out the bad vertical blind stems. The process is quite simple. I hope you find this video helpful so lets get started on this vertical blind repair.
Read more over at my website - www.snaservices.com/?p=860
Parts I used to repair:
www.fixmyblinds.com/vertical-...

[@iseeu7022]

When your renting it's a tough thing to undo what abuse does to over turning blinds Ugh! Being a renter and not an owner makes a big difference!

[@SeanMoenkhoff]

Yes it does. I'm sorry have to agree with you. Our cats often wedge their way through the blind slats which sometimes causes them to jump a notch in the stem sprocket causing them not to align up with the others.

[@winstonsaxonsdad]

I have several vertical slats that are no longer working. I ordered and replaced the stem on the first one and it worked perfectly. The part you referred to, the GEAR which resides inside the unit, did not come out of the first slat I replaced but did on the second. I was able to get the GEAR back in with the teeth facing upwards. However, when I snapped the new stem into place, it still didn't work. In your video you referenced the GEAR but the video did not show how your oriented it into the mechanism. Since my isn't working, although the GEAR appears intact without broken teeth, unlike the gear portion of the stem, do you think I should replace the GEAR part? Thanks

[@SeanMoenkhoff]

My advice @winstonsaxonsdad would be to get up close and look very carefully at where the stem attaches back to on the carrier on the head rail. I would have someone slowly pull the cord/ball chain/turn the wand to make the blinds rotate if you cannot do it yourself. Then when the blinds are rotating I would try to see where the breakdown between the rotating rod in the head rail to the stem is happening. If I remember correctly, there's about 4 rotating/moving parts. The rotating head rail rod, a gear that comes off that which drives the saw tooth like flat bar that then drives the stem teeth.
Best of luck!

[@governmentchihuahua4132]

What is the trick for snapping those carrier stems in? I'm afraid of breaking the whole unit by trying too hard to snap them in!

[@SeanMoenkhoff]

I just aligned them up so the teeth were oriented correctly and push super hard. Yes, I felt like I was going to break them off but I focused as much pressure that I could at the point where it snaps into the U fitting.