I have several 8VS zippers on my boat cover, which was made for me
about 5 years ago. The teeth and sliders of this zipper are in
excellent shape, but the pin and boxes have dried out and disintegrated.

The pin and box is the small item at the start of the zipper to guide
the slider on.
I am told this item is integral to the zipper and cannot be repaired.
I think YKK's recent fix for this problem of using UV
resistant zippers is not necessarily the best fix, but the only choice
in using
a YKK system. Years ago YKK zippers had a removable pin and box
piece that could be attached if the original one broke, but now
everything
is one piece to save costs. Although YKK hints at paying for the
material
costs of new zippers, labor could cost me as much as 35 dollars each to
replace and I have over 20 zippers on this cover.

Sherwin D.