I recently purchased a single Lexan t-top off eBay to replace the one that came with my car (it had cracked). I went to put it into the car and it was a bit loose. So, I took it downstairs and was checking it out. I noticed something about the pins.


Here are two pictures. The first is from my original Lexan t-top:

The yellow arrow is pointing to what I need help with. On this old t-top you can see how there is a metal 'band' that the black plastic pin fits into. This plastic pin is in there good and doesn't move at all.

Now, this is the top I got off eBay:

Sorry the picture's a little fuzzy, but I think you can see what I mean. On this top, the plastic pins are not 'locked' onto the metal rod. There is no metal band holding it in and the plastic part of the pin can totally be removed. It slides right off.

Does anyone know how to fix this? If I can just put something in there to hold it on? Can I swap out the entire mechanism from my old t-tops and how would that be done? If it doesn't have to come to that, I'd rather not do that. Is there an easy way to get these plastic pins to stay on the metal rods?

Thank you so much. And sorry for the semi-lengthy post.

 

you should ba able to switch out the mechanism fairly easy

i can on mine

 

The whole shabang? How would I go about doing that? Is it 'welded' on at some point? I'm having a hard time getting at the screws (they might be torque screws) underneath where the weatherstripping was.

EDIT - Thanks for a response.

 

why not just take the ring off the old one and put it on the new one?

 

Because the 'ring' is part of the metal. It's part of the metal rod, so it doesn't come off.

 

are you sure? Mine isnt.

 

How are the pins held in then? I mean, if they're not held on the metal rod?

 

IIRC, it is some sort of snap ring.

 

Try twisting the ring around so that you can see where the opening is and you will see how to take it off.

 

IIRC?

Ok, I'll try twisting things and such, but the plastic pins on the old one seem to be in there really good.

 

Ok, I sort of yanked and got the metal ring out, which removed the plastic pin and revealed a spring which shot across the room. So, I have put the springs and the metal rings onto the new t-top, but the plastic pins aren't very secure. They can be twisted off and yanked off. So, I'm trying to get them in there very tight. Thanks for all your help.

 

No problem. I had the same problem with my t tops. Glad to know I could help.

 

Just an update - got the t-top in there good and tight so everything worked out. Thanks to everyone for your help.