diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarOutputStream.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarOutputStream.java
index 0f4eae316..af8ada6bd 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarOutputStream.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/tar/TarOutputStream.java
@@ -485,14 +485,14 @@ public class TarOutputStream extends FilterOutputStream {
     void writePaxHeaders(String entryName,
                          Map<String, String> headers) throws IOException {
         String name = "./PaxHeaders.X/" + stripTo7Bits(entryName);
+        if (name.length() >= TarConstants.NAMELEN) {
+            name = name.substring(0, TarConstants.NAMELEN - 1);
+        }
         while (name.endsWith("/")) {
             // TarEntry's constructor would think this is a directory
             // and not allow any data to be written
             name = name.substring(0, name.length() - 1);
         }
-        if (name.length() >= TarConstants.NAMELEN) {
-            name = name.substring(0, TarConstants.NAMELEN - 1);
-        }
         TarEntry pex = new TarEntry(name,
                                     TarConstants.LF_PAX_EXTENDED_HEADER_LC);