Since my Dad passed away, I am left to my own devices to fix things. I pulled his tape measure out too far and, dang, I broke it. Thanks to your video, I fixed it!!! Dad would be so proud of me.

Thanks for the tutorial! I opened my fully retracted, 25-ft. X1 in. Pittsburgh tape measure to find a fractured case AND spring. It made a minor explosion of brittle plastic & metal pieces. There wasn't much to fix. I didn't think the spring could shred like that! So I wound up the tape after sweeping up the shards. I think a new one is in my future. Thanks for helping us reuse and keep more out of landfill.

Sir thank you so much. I found a 35 foot Stanley in the trash on a site and the only problem was it wouldn’t retract. It looked brand new. Took it home and did some googling and came across this. Rewound the spring the way you did by twisting the tape and it was good as new.

I have to admit I've broken a few and was too lazy to repair them. Great tips, thanks again.

Husband is away and told me to fix it myself, mentioned it will "take some time"... sure, uh-huh, dear! No way! I'm saving it for him and buying myself one today, Jose! 😎

You're a lot braver man then I. In thought that dang spring would never stop unwinding and throwing dust everywhere. I was cringing all through this video, expecting it to suddenly unwind with a flash. My solution would have been to pitch it into the trash and buy another one. It's nice to know what you are doing and getting it right without injury. As usual another great video, thanks for sharing what's next :-) ...Ken

Almost drove to Home Depot for a new one but after watching this it was an easy fix. Thanks!

The blade on my little 6ft Stanley popped off the rewind when fully extended, i followed the video and it's fine now. Thanks for the info! Now to fix my 30 footer.

dude you are awesome,i spent all day screwing with one of these trying to fix it,im at the stage where you are almost at the end, i didn't realize how little you have to wind it to make it work again,i thought you had to wind it like a million times but i see what happens,you just have to wind it enough to get it going a little,at least thats what it looks like, basically i was measuring something that was longer than the tape and it came off the spring, thanks a bunch.

This is why I love KZfaq. THANKS!!!!

Thanks, Moe. I´m not a real handy kind of guy, just don´t like buying new stuff when the old can get fixed. Good job explaining. I fixed my five-meter tape thanks to you. =)

Brilliant video. Didn't think it was going to be worth it, but I see it's pretty straight forward & got time on my hands now! No excuses

Once again I'm impressed!! I end up fixing a lot of things too but I've not had to do a tape measure. Or, I should say I haven't tried yet. I have a 16 footer that doesn't re-wind and since I have experience with recoils on chainsaws and other small engines I know it's the same concept. Great job, young man! I wish I lived close to you so I could learn from you live and watch you work. Having said that your videos are very good. Thank you for making them. Post Script: Good advice about wearing the gloves!

great tips sir! I now have my new tape measure! damn its too hard to fix and even got my self cut 😂

I was gonna try to fix it so I'm glad I saw this my husband said it's too much work, throw it away. Plus i already cut my finger on the spring when it went wild on me!

nice save!!! I have sprayed the spring with some wd40 before rewinding,and when the rewind the tape back in,stand back because it will saw your arm off if you get in the way.

Though this seems like a risky and potentially injurous task, we actually need to begin making things to last.. and we need to repair everything that breaks, or we are going to need a few more planet Earths, after we totally laid waste to the one we are living on.

Really good presentation. I could see it all clearly over here in nz ;)

Also make sure to wear safety goggles, can hit the eye. I've been trying to figure out how the spring retracts back and was seeing instead of pulling the tape in it pulls in the opposite direction. Great tip 👍,

Super helpful - just repaired my Stanley 12' thanks a ton!