Php and double quotes cant find the problem

So I am designing a site that will transfer varialbes to the next script as hidden input fields.

a user seleects the item from a drop down list that has double quotes in it for inches.

on the very next page i manipulate the temp copy of the variable by taking the last 4 characters off.
when i do this though it seems to work fine. i can store those 4 chars in a new variable i can even echo out the new variable on the screen and get the data minus the last 4 chars. thats all great.

but two more pages down the road and the variable has lost some values in it. everything past the set of double quotes is gone.

anyway around this?

ive tried addslashes and taht doesnt work.
i tried escaping the double quote in the drop down and that doesnt work.

your guys help would be awesome.