pizzaking

Hey all,
Just wanted to pick the brains of anyone that had one of these latches break so it doesnt fully lock down. Right now when I set the handle it gets tight and right at the end gives a quarter inch and is flimsy. I plan on buying a new latch and replacing at some point in the future but loooking for a homemade get by method for now. I took some wire and wrapped the hook with the bar for now so the hook stays under the bar but I'd like to figure a way to keep it down so there is not any give. The air sound is annoying. Anyone got a quik fix? Thinking a small vice type tool might be able to get in there that I could tighten. Dunno. Thanks

Its a 1998

belairbrian

Sounds a lot like mine. It was tight (too tight in fact) but once i got it closed the top wasn't tight. Took it apart and found out it was just a worn plastic bushing not the latch. Was able to find a suitable replacement in the plastic pieces at Lowes.

The bad news is to change the latch requires peeling back the top. While not difficult, I found the tack strip dry rotted and had to order some and wait to reassemble.

As for a temp fix you might try a small c clamp. I would put some tape on the upper trim panel to protect it.

BabyGT

Can you elaborate on this worn plastic piece?

belairbrian

Sure. Look at the picture below. It has all the parts of the latch assemblies.
There are two white plastic guides. they keep the long slots aligned as they move. One of mine was gone. This allowed the link to shift sideways and bind. Once the latch was closed the slotted piece to move and cause a loose fit.

To buy the hardware kit is around $50. and all i needed was a piece of plastic.

I dug around the shed and found an epoxy stirrer from Harbor Freight that was the same thickness and width. Just needed a hole and a bit of shortening.

I used the one I still had as a guide. At Lowe's I found some plastic shim material that one can be made from. But honestly the stirrer from the 99 cent harbor freight epoxy kit works better.

belairbrian

BTW the picture is from a current EBay listing. i think they were asking like $80 for all. That's not bad.

pizzaking

Great info. Thanks a ton! Will check it out.

BabyGT

Sweet! I'm not currently having issues but it's great to have some knowledge to trouble shoot with when things come up.

pizzaking

Getting ready to tackle this. Was it pretty easy to peel the top back? Is it just staples and pop rivets?

belairbrian

Before you ever get to staples and pop rivits you must get past the torx screws.

There is a metal retaining plate under the front edge of the top. it is held by a bunch of little screws that are #10 Torx. It is likely a brown rust color. I would highly suggest dropping the top back, spraying them with penetrating oil and let them sit over night if at all possible.

I didn't and broke a torx screw driver off on the first one. Went to the toolbox and got another and broke it off. Out of #10 drivers I finally sprayed them down. Decided to use my small vise grips to break them loose after that.

On the up side I now have 2 new #10 torx drivers free of cost. Ain't buying craftsman tools great.

The factory staples are really short and you won't find them at the hardware store. I went one size up and put them at a slight angle and they went in fine.

The factory instructions say you can peel the top back to the middle and replace a latch. This keeps the top at the correct length. Since I was working on both latches and needed to replace the brittle tach strip,I peeled mine pack all the way across. If you mark the front edge with chalk you will still have a line to set length by.

One other thought, When your reattaching the top you will be working with the top half way up. It will try to go down. I ended up tying mine with some rope to keep it where I needed it.

BabyGT

Just replaced my whole top and don't remember any rivets?