How to Replace the Locking Pin (Cotter Pin) on a Folding Cocktail Table

The most common problem that folding cocktail tables have is the spring inside the locking pin will break – making it impossible for the table to be properly locked into a setup position. This causes a stability issue with the tables that rental companies, hotels, banquet halls and golf courses obviously want to avoid. We have the locking cotter pins in stock should this happen to you and have documented in the below post how to go about replacing the locking pin (cotter pin) on your folding cocktail table.

The locking cotter pin is comprised of three parts: the pin itself (A), the spring (B) and the ring (C).

You will need to remove the damaged locking pin by folding up the table and then removing the ring from the pin. This will allow you to slide out the pin with broken spring to the left out of the hole.

Here is what a new pin will look like when you receive it.

In order to install the pin, you need to remove the ring from the pin – similar to removing a key from a keyring.

To install the new cotter pin, slide the spring and pin into the hole of the folding cocktail table. The spring should be between the hole and pin with the pin’s eye on the right.

To get it working properly, you need to push and use your strength to hold the pin + spring in so that the pin’s eye is showing on the right side of the leg.

From here, you will put the ring on through the eye. I just put it on a little bit so the cotter pin wouldn’t shoot out to the left.

This allowed me to use both hands to put the ring fully on.

There you have it – a fully locking cotter pin for your folding cocktail table.