Nocliner

[SteveA]

Service call to residence - Sofa w/recliners - handle doesn't raise footrest on one side.  Hoping it was just out of the slot - turns out one side of the plastic that captures the dowel pin was broken but the outside part of the plastic intact.  Sofa 9 years old - made in China.  I took the cable and handle off - With CA glue repaired the crack on the one bad side.  Roughed up the plastic in the cavity around the crack - put CA glue on the surface of the cavity than put a blob of plumbers epoxy in the cavity capturing the pin on the bad side and surrounding it with epoxy in place.  After that dried - more CA glue around the edges and put it all back together.  Nothing else I could think of to do to put it back together.  Maybe new handles are available but since this was my first handle/cable repair issue I had no spare parts with me.
If anyone knows a good place to stock up on recliner parts I'd appreciate the leads for the next time.  The repaired handle worked fine - should last a while -

[kodydog]

Might want to check some stores you do work for. A furniture store I do repairs for has a tool box full of recliner parts. 

[baileyuph]

A handle to get in that condition, it has been abused and/or the mechanism is experiencing wear - putting
more strain on the handle.  Therefore, the issue might not have been addressed - just the symptom.

Recliners are not always the preference - a nice well build stuffed chair with a matching ottoman is
a better choice.

Doyle

[Darren Henry]

None of my suppliers carry anything like that. The manufacturer/importer won't sell to upholsterers but they do sell to the retailers so when I need parts like this I order through one of the retailers I did work for.

[sofadoc]

I've always found what I need on ebay stores.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR3.TRC1.A0.H0.Xrecliner+release+cables.TRS0&_nkw=recliner+release+cables&_sacat=0


Problem is, you have to:
Go to the house.......... take the old one off.......... order a new one..........go back to the house........put the new one on.

I usually turn those jobs down unless they bring it to me.

[kodydog]

Sofa left out one step and that is searching the internet for the right part. . It all takes time and most customers wonder why it costs so much for such an easy repair.

[sofadoc]

A handle to get in that condition, it has been abused and/or the mechanism is experiencing wear - putting
more strain on the handle. 

Not necessarily. Some of those cables break for no damn good reason. But quite often, it IS a case of a cheap mechanism that simply wasn't designed to recline 300 lb. butts. More stress on the mech. equals more wear on the cable.

And it seems to be a common occurrence that the more overweight people are, the less money they spend on quality furniture.

[SteveA]

Veddy Intareshting - ebay - that's urban shopping -
I was thinking if I couldn't fix the plastic handle I would just drill the end of the cable into a wood dowel and leave the dowel hanging outside the recliner.  The ones on ebay with the ring on the end are reasonable remedies.   I guess if you had to retro fit a new plastic handle the opening could be altered to match in size but that is probably not worth anyone's time.  I notice those foot rests have quite a bit of snap when you pull the lever but I don't think it causes wear on the cable once the little lever is engaged which gets the big spring involved. 
Thanks for the advice all
SA

[kodydog]

I got to thinking about it and I have the same type cable in my van doors. Over the last two years and one by one they are breaking. The problem is just below the tip where the grove slides into the c shaped holding device. The plastic has disintegrated on every one. I've replaced 5 out of 6 cables

When Steve suggested the wood dowel trick I knew exactly what he meant. In order to open that right rear door I have to reach up in there and give the cable a good yank.

15 year old van. They don't make them like they use to.

[SteveA]

I went on Ebay and ordered a couple of cables - one with the ring as a generic and the other with the plastic inset lever handle.  The parts arrived a few days ago.  The handle / cable combo was the perfect match for the Bassett recliner handle I repaired a few weeks ago.  The cost is negligible for these parts.  I was in the house a little over an hour to make the epoxy repair.  It was a flat $ 200.00 charge - including travel.  If I had the replacement handles that I got off ebay recently I could have repaired the recliner in 10 minutes.  I'm ready for the next handle repair.
SA