Hardtop latches - yours too may need adjustment

[slaughterj]

A while back, I had the rear latches for my hardtop replaced, which were messed up just from visual inspection (easy to adjust, but one side had bent). I rarely use a top, much less the hardtop (until deep winter), but the few times since, it still had a rattle/clatter/chatter sort of noise when going over bumps. The rear latches fit very snugly though, and the fronts looked fine, but one of the front latches always seemed to latch in very easily. So anyway, I decided to finally take a closer look, took it apart and found several things wrong. *Note, be careful with the latch disassembly, because it has a tiny spring and ball bearing which can come free and could be easily lost* I unscrewed the latch from the hardtop, and found (1) that the spring and ball bearing weren't seated well, but also (2) on the opposite/hidden side of the latch (the end normally within the hardtop), the nut had worked itself loose just a few threads (long bolt, the bolt head end of which is the part you actually swivel to lock down the hardtop). When the nut is loose, the bolt head can have some play, allowing the spring and ball bearing to get out of place. I reseated the spring into its hole, put the ball bearing back over top of it, and wedged it back in between the bolt head and the latch piece that screws onto the hardtop, and tighted the nut that's normally hidden, put the whole latch back on, and it works much better now.

So, for those still reading, if you have excessive rattling (I get very little now), check both the front and rear latches, as either may need adjusting.

 

[slaughterj]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JMcGuire:
Mine rattles now -- didn't rattle when new, and it's definitely from the back -- the front latches are VERY tight (almost impossible to move them by hand). I haven't looked at the rear clips closely yet -- how do you adjust them?

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IIRC, when you flip the top over and are looking at the rear latches, you see the two sides that scissor together to latch, one with the hook that goes under the "rod" on the car and the other one which sort of looks like a big paper clip - the latter one can be loosened with a hex-headed tool and moved up or down to adjust the tightness of latching. Like I said, this is IIRC, I can take a look back and see for sure, but you should be able to see how you can loosen and therefore adjust one part of the scissor mechanism.