Replacing Obitsu 48 ankles

I thought my girl had a problem with her foot because it just wasn't staying on, but upon further inspection, her ankle joint is coming apart. I know I'll probably have to order her a new one, bit I just don't know how to replace it & can't seem to find any tutorials. They seem pretty snug in their. I want to stick her on a DDP eventually, but it looks like it'll be a while before I can get one in SWS so this body will have to do for now. Any ideas? Anyone have any experience & could help me out?

Hiya! It's too bad that her ankles aren't holding up! Do you have any pictures of how it looks? In any case, if you want to replace her ankles, I made a thread that goes over that here. Granted, it's more about changing out Obitsu ankles/feet for DDS ones(and the problems that come with that lol), but this bit may help you get the ankles out in the first place:

 

You absolutely need the help of a hair dryer. First, heat the top of the shins with a hair dryer and then pull them and feet from the rest of the body. Next, heat the bottom of the shins where it meets the ankle joint VERY well before pulling out the feet and ankles. Keep turning as you blast them to oblivion, and continue heating them for an extra 10 seconds once you think they're ready. That's my rule of thumb. xD The heated vinyl should be very, very soft(and hot) and pulling it out shouldn't be too hard. If it doesn't come out after using a moderate amount of force then it wasn't heated enough. Also, when pulling out Obitsu feet you should focus your grip on the ankle ball joint instead of the feet(which could come off by itself before you manage to pull the ankle off if you yank hard enough...). When you pull out the feet, the ankle joint as well as part of the shin frame should come out.

 

Hope that helps! But one thing since you mentioned that her feet comes off super easily.. if your girl's feet are separated from the ankle joint, you may want to use some pliers or something to hold onto the ankle while you pull it out. I say you should focus your grip on the ankle instead of the feet which is true, but having the feet vinyl there makes pulling it out easier on your hands. ^^"

 

 

Absolutely horrible quality, but this is the current state of my Obitsu 60/55cm girl with an Obi50 ankle while I decide what kind of feet I want for her(probably also obi50, but maybe I'll give her DDS feet idk). Pulling out the ankles when it's like this actually hurts because of that bit that's sticking out lol;;

I agree, replacing those ankles is not exactly a fun procedure. At least it's not as bad as replacing that stupid little screw inside a DDII thigh--that's an absolute nightmare.

 

And yes, you WILL need a hairdryer and patience. If you have gloves, they may help you keep your grip without getting blisters on the hot plastic.

elianti and Poofiemus have pretty much nailed it. Heat! Heat! Heat! The shin vinyls are molded with a narrow "collar area" inside the bottom, which holds the ankle joint tightly in place. This collar area will really only allow the ankle joint to be removed with the softening of the vinyl that comes from heating.

 

Also when you replace the screw in the bottom of the foot, don't over tighten it. It's one of the few places where there is a direct metal to plastic connection. Most of the other metal hardware parts are nuts and bolts, which clamp plastic parts together. This screw into plastic connection can easily be stripped out by over tightening this screw.