Soft Top repair or replace?

[jedawson1]

Not sure what this part is called, the plastic "C" channel on the front of the soft top that slides into the groove on the windshield and holds down the front of the soft top. This part is broken and brittle, the rest of the soft top is in good shape.

Is this plastic part readily available and worth replacing or should I look for a new top? I have a seamstress who can stitch a new one on for me.

 

[Gunnermac]

Get rid of the plastic Fold the fabric over the appropriate size cord and have it stitched in place of the plastic. Slide this in the channel at the top of the windshield.

 

[wheelspinner]

There's a couple of great threads on here about using a piece of vinyl siding. I am going to try that one my self as I have the same perdicament.

 

[JamesSummerville]

I'm in the same boat, thanks for the ideas

 

[Suprman]

I have been thinking about getting boat canvas snaps for the top front and back. One side rivets onto the top the other you tap and screw into the metal frame. They hold boat canvas tops on at speed I don't see why they wouldn't work for this application and you could supplement with heavy duty Velcro sewn onto the top and held on the frame with glue and the snap heads screwed down over the Velcro strips. I have seen heavy duty Velcro style strips that are larger hook and loop without the fuzzy-ness of one side. I do like the idea of cord holding the edge in the channel though.

 

[jedawson1]

Some good ideas here, I think I will try using HH66 vinyl cement and a piece of cord to fill the gap.. I'm hoping the vinyl cement will save the issue of sewing and having more holes in the vinyl.

I'll post some pictures when I'm done, may take a few days for the HH66 to show up in the mail.

 

[jasonjc]

I've use pop rivets on 2 or 3 of my tops to hold the plastic piecs back on and they are holding up just fine.

 

[SCSG-G4]

TNJMurray has the "C" channel per another post. Vinyl siding and pop rivets worked for me and will work till I upgrade to a hard top (my pictures are in another thread, if you're really interested, you'll find it).

 

[Csm Davis]

The rope is how the old tops were done and the rope would out live the tops dont know why the change but it wasn't for the best. If you put in the rope add a little more to the ends and it will help on installing and removal and it can be laid across under the top when you fold it back and over to hide it.

 

[1 Patriot-of-many]

I paid almost as much as a new one could be had on an auction site to have the channel restitched. Make sure you get a solid quote on stitching.

 

[jedawson1]

I tested with a small piece of vinyl I have left over for patch work, I used that and 1/4" nylon rope.

1) The windshield groove is going to require larger 3/8" or 1/2" rope to properly fill to gap.
2) The windshield groove appears to be too open at the bottom, allowing the rope to fold out. I'm going to try bending the groove down "Closing the mouth" of the channel to hold the rope in place.
3) Should I use dawn dish soap to lubricate the vinyl when I slide it in place or do you recommend another type of lubricant, I was thinking Vaseline but I don't trust a petroleum product to not degrade vinyl.

 

[jedawson1]

In looking at the front of the M923 soft top, the corner is stitched down and has a snap that fits to the sides of the wind shield.

I don't believe there is enough material to fold over a rope like the deuce tops.. I have a strip of vinyl siding and a can of HH66 vinyl glue, I'm hoping the glue will hold along with some rivets.

Can you post a picture of the rivet repair you made along with rivet size "grab" and spacing?

Thank You

 

[SCSG-G4]

Posted these pics in another thread a couple of years ago. This is the problem with starting new threads - information is scattered around in a bunch of places.

Well, I can see them in my 'Manage Attachments" (file images 'Soft-top-1.jpg, Soft-Top-2.jpg, and Soft-Top-3.jpg') but I can't figure out how to attach them to this thread. I checked them, but it does not seem to do any good.

 

[SCSG-G4]

Found the thread
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?103326-I-cant-find-it!!-Is-it-available
post #9

 

[jedawson1]

I agree, searching is difficult a best. Proper titles help the most. Lots of links like the one you just added get over looked because of the title. I searched soft top and thumbed through many threads, probably overlooking the one you linked due to the title having nothing to do with soft tops. Not a perfect site but the mods keep it pretty clean compared to others. And there are helpful members like you who remember post from years ago. Thanks.

 

[jedawson1]

So I have tested HH66 Vinyl glue with a scrap piece of tarp and vinyl siding trim. At first the bond was week but the piece I let dry over night was strong, took probably 15lbs to pull them apart.

I believe I am going to use less rivets and glue the tarp and siding trim together and hope it holds up.

 

[Suprman]

I had a little time on my hands so I fixed my soft top. We will see how long it lasts but heres how I did it. I filed smooth the top of the plastic pieces and cleaned everything with alcohol. I used the 3M outdoor double sided mounting tape to secure the plastic channel back to the top. Then I drilled a few holes and added threaded screws with posts to add strength. I may add more later depending on how it lasts. I was originally thinking of just restitching it by hand. I lined up the plastic to the stitch holes and used paperclips to keep the pieces in line but I didnt have thread that I thought would be strong enough and it looked like it would take a long time. Here are some pics.

 

[Ford Mechanic]

Just repaired mine using the info here and a couple other threads. I used the marine GOOP for adhiseive (the best I could get locally) and rivets. I'll see how it holds up.

 

[Ford Mechanic]

Installed mine last night and this is what I've learned..... Marine Goop does not look like it's going to hold for a permenant fix and use smaller rivets, I used 3/16 ones and it was almost impossible to reinstall the top into the channel. I saw this morning where others used 1/8 rivets, I wish I had seen that earlier!

 

[zout]

I had used 1/4 rivets with a flat washer on the backside to pull flat like a body washer style.