"I couldn’t undo my ratchet belt and I had to unloose the caboose so bad that I cut my belt off to prevent dumpin’ a stump in my pants."
We’ve literally heard this same exact line at least a dozen times over the past 4 years.
It’s amazing the exactness in which it’s repeated.
So we felt like it was time to solve this stuck ratchet belt problem for all time, and save pants everywhere from falling prey to the barbarians at the gate.
Step one in solving this doo-doo of an issue is understanding how the locking mechanism on a ratchet belt works.
The lever on the bottom of the buckle is attached to a piece of metal that wedges down into the plastic track on the belt strap, thereby “locking” the belt in place.
When you pull the lever it pulls that piece of metal up out of the track allowing the strap to move freely. When you let go of the lever a magnet rotates the piece of metal back down into the track.
It’s honestly a really clever design….until you get stuck in your pants trying to do the royal squat.
The key to unlocking this porcelain throne problem, both physically and metaphorically, is in the tension on the belt.
Let me explain. Because the lever on the bottom of the buckle is directly attached to the metal piece that wedges into the track on the strap, the more tension there is on the belt, i.e. - the tighter the belt is, the more difficult it will be to pull that lever.
The issue comes when the wearer has to cut a loaf so bad that they panic when the lever doesn’t immediately release, and then they tighten the belt even more hoping that this will somehow help the situation.
But the tighter that belt goes the more opposing pressure it puts on the lever, making it harder and harder to get the belt off before you park some bark in the wrong parking space.
The solution is incredibly simple, albeit a little counterintuitive.
Step one is in fact pushing the strap further into the buckle as if you were trying to tighten it.
BUT…..and this is a big huge but, you only want to push the strap in enough to release the tension on the notch it’s currently wedged into, but not so much that you push it to the next notch.
Pushing in the strap ever so slightly releases all of the tension on the lever, making the strap, and your payload, incredibly easy to release.
It’ll also save you from having to send us an embarrassing email requesting a new strap due to “complications” during a “meeting” while using the “big white telephone”.
We hope this post will prove helpful if you ever find yourself in a pickle trying to undo your ratchet belt before letting the turtles loose.
And if you haven't experienced the ultimate comfort of a ratchet belt yet, then click here.
As always, stay tuned for more style tips for normal dudes, from normal dudes.
