Soft Top Mechanism Just Failed

[stjoh]

Originally Posted by BFeller

Title says it - now it's time to figure out what happened.

I went to put the top up and failed. The clam shell started up, then there was a pop and it went back down. It hasn't moved since. I looked at the control rod on the drivers side. It has come apart. The bolt that allows for the length adjustment has fallen out. I could see into in the foam trays. I disconnected the rest of that side. Next I removed the ball socket on the passenger side. I have to go back and figure out the how and where to remove the next connection in order to lift the clam shell. I have popped the clam shell arms out of the ball joints that are near the doors - only to realize that appears to be wrong. Reading the 101 Projects book and the Bentley manual seem to show a ball joint and socket the other end. Which might explain why the clam shell will not lift. I want to lift the clam shell in order to place the soft top into the service position. That should allow me to check for any other damage.

The previous owner told me that drivers side ball joints had cracked and failed. His mechanic replaced the it with the newer white plastic version. The rubber gasket in that joint is trashed and needs to be replaced.

I have pulled up the renntech 10 page discussion on tops linked in previous post on this forum. I am off to do some reading.

This whole thing blows up my plan to go for a ride in the Blue Ridge mountains this weekend.

I have a motor and drive mechanism in case you need it. I'm also in NC BTW.

[BFeller]

It is completely apart. I had to pull the little clips on black metal arms. I used a cooter pin removal tool to manipulate the clips into a position that allowed for removal. It only took two cut fingers before I put on the mechanics glove to spare the other eight.

The motor is running, the transmissions arms rotate forward and backwards. It does look like the pivot arm that attaches to the top, the one with the replaced ball socket, is slightly twisted. I can't say whether it happened when the bolt came out, or if it was from the previous owners incident. It is a subtle twist, in a part that already has some twist. I will order a replacement. I want to check the microswitches to make sure everything is shutting off when it should. It appears, that maybe the one that shuts motor off when the clam shell closes, failed and allowed the motor to beyond a safe limit. I need to figure that out. I think that would be the function of the switch/lever on the top of the motor.

[BFeller]

Originally Posted by BFeller

It is completely apart. I had to pull the little clips on black metal arms. I used a cotter pin removal tool to manipulate the clips into a position that allowed for removal. It only took two cut fingers before I put on the mechanics glove to spare the other eight.

The motor is running, the transmissions arms rotate forward and backwards. It does look like the pivot arm that attaches to the top, the one with the replaced ball socket, is slightly twisted. I can't say whether it happened when the bolt came out, or if it was from the previous owners incident. It is a subtle twist, in a part that already has some twist. I will order a replacement. I want to check the microswitches to make sure everything is shutting off when it should. It appears, that maybe the one that shuts motor off when the clam shell closes, failed and allowed the motor to beyond a safe limit. I need to figure that out. I think that would be the function of the switch/lever on the top of the motor.

The short update is everything is back to together and working perfectly.

I read everything that could be found, the vast majority of it from schoir on this forum and renntech.

The long update is that the pivot arm that came apart was replaced with a part from Pelican. I did not want to reinstall the one with the slight bend. The new one had a plastic blue end. The one that was being replaced had the plastic white end. Oddly enough the one on other side had a metal pivot. After everything that I read concerning the top assembly those pivoting ends would appear to be the weak link. A sacrificial link - like a fuse. So I decided to use one of the two plastic ends and replace the metal one. If the system were to get bound up, that piece is fairly cheap. Finally - All of my reading lead to understanding why the motor did not shut off when testing the operation of the clam shell. The micro switch in the b pillar was not going to send a signal - since the pivot arms to move the top were not connected, and with the top in service position.

[BFeller]

Originally Posted by stjoh

I have a motor and drive mechanism in case you need it. I'm also in NC BTW.

Thanks for the offer. Have any other parts - your not actually near Rocky Mount are you? Because I knew we had river in NC named the Toe, towns named Dallas and Star, but not one called Albuquerque. H

[CoBeerToad]

Just snapped my second pair of connecting rods this morning. I just ordered a bunch of bushings a few days ago. I'm going to give it one more shot and carefully disassemble everything and put it back together. If it fails again, I'm joining the manual top club.