need help on top pull down

[Guest dkrom]

spent today trying to get my soft top to stay locked down. first i tried sliding brackets up thought i might have fixed it but on test drive top came loose at rear pins. anybody who has worked on this locking mechanism knows once you closed tonneau cover to engage soft top pins you can no longer see the locking pull down mechanism. this does make it difficult to work on . I adjusted mechanism a couple more times by adjusting it on brackets. couldn't get it to stay down. with soft top rear lifted and the tonneau cover opened i pushed top switch on electric pull down and watched pin latches . I could hear the motor run but the latches only appeared to move slightly as if trying to engage the tops pin but not going into lockdown position. with manual override in trunk i was able to see the mechanism go into locking mode, but of course, this was while the mechanism did not have the pins from the soft top. as i was watching mechanism with tonneau open. i unplugged connector to motor and with a test light i found that only one of the three leads had power. is that correct ? plugged the motor back in and closed the tonneau cover,lowered the soft top. engaging pins into pull down and from the trunk using ovrride mechanical pulled pins down and heard a click as if they were locked. only a test drive tomorrow will I know if it will stay locked down. does anybody know of past threads that cover this issue or can anybody offer possible solution. thanks, Nomad

[4 Peaks]

Did you try latching the back down first, then latching the front down?

[ghostymosty]

I had to lock the pull down from the trunk with the pins still out of it and then push the pins into the holes. Worked every time. First tried it when I got caught in Louisiana rain with the top open.

[Guest dkrom]

come loose today . yes .tried pins first then front, no luck l will try lock from trunk, then pins.thanks Nomad

[Guest GregTC]

Hi Nomad just to let you know I should be able to post the liner actuator conversion tomorrow and are the pins on your soft top in good shape

[Guest dkrom]

yes, my soft top is in great condition I think that it was rarely used because it would not stay locked down.Nomad

[Guest GregTC]

And the hooks in the pull down assembly are good

[Guest dkrom]

not sure I will check tomorrow Nomad

[Guest dkrom]

not as sharp as pins ,l believe are ok . Nomad.

[Guest GregTC]

Sorry this took so long but hear is the conversion

Top pull down motor conversion

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Remove the pull down from the car and remove the factory motor and relays, you will probably want to keep the parts. On what would be the front side of the assembly you will see a slot for the one of the actuator rods, lengthen the slot by 1/2 inch toward the passenger side, keeping it the same with see photo 1, this is to accommodate the connecting bolt. On the back side of the assembly you will see I made and mounted a guide bracket see photo 2, look at photo 3 to get the dimensions for the bracket, you will see a tab that is welded to the back side of the bracket, now I didn't put the mounting hole dimensions on the print you will need to mark those once you can get things lined up. In photo 4 you see I welded a mounting tab for the body of the actuator to locate tab make sure the pull down assembly is in release position and the linear actuator is fully extended take the connecting bolt and slide it though the slot of the pull down the actuator and the catch and the bracket, now you can mark the spot to weld the tab for the actuator and one of the holes on the bracket (see photo 5) take your time in doing this so that every thing gets in the proper location so when your done it works like the factory designed it too) I used locks nuts too make sure nothing would loosen up, you can see I used some washers on the connecting bolt too keep things sliding correctly

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Now you have to change the wiring a little see photo 6, there are 3 wires that go to the old motor you need to take the black with the red stripe wire and reroute it to reach the switch, the white plug that is on the back of the switch opens up so you can change the wires and then plug the switch back in. make sure you have a plug set that you can use too connect the wires at the linear actuator.

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Linear Actuator

12vdc

75 lb work load

2 inch stroke

dimensions

7 inch collapsed

9 inch extended

1 1/2 inch wide

see photos 7a,7b,7c

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Bolts

1, 1/4 20 x 2 inch (connecting bolt)

1, 1/4 20 x 1 3/4 inch (actuator mounting bolt)

2, 1/4 20 x 3/4 inch (bracket bolts)

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I hope this helps if you have any questions feel free to ask you can email me at greackerley@gmail.com subject line pull down conversion

Greg

[Guest dkrom]

thanks for this I know there will be many who can use it. Nomad

[Guest GregTC]

Top pull down motor conversion wiring up date

This is a better wiring design because you end up with relay's operating the actuator and taking the load in stead of the switch.

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First you need to get 2 relay's and there corresponding plug's (the relay number is 56-1728) (photo's W1 & W2) I picked up my relay's from CarQusest. Now I tried to match the factory color code as much as passable so in order to do that you have to remove and rearrange the wire's. Take a small screw driver or a scribe and insert it behind the connector and push the locking tab down and at the same time pull on the wire (see photo's W3 & W4) it will take a little bit to get it but they will come out, now before you put the wire's back in were you want them make sure you bend the tab back up a little so it will lock in place ( see photo W4A).

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Before you do any wiring in the car you may want to disconnect the battery or pull the fuse for the top.

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See photo WD1 for the wiring diagram. Terminal 85 & 87a go to ground, this is for both relay's.

Terminal 86 on both relay's will go to the top switch one on green and the other on the orange. They are the same two wire's that are already back by the factory pull down motor.

Terminal 87 on both relays will be power you will get the power from the red and black wire that is all ready there from the factory motor.

Terminal 30 on both relays will go to the actuator one on each side.( to start make these connections temp until you have the actuator correspond with the switch)

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Now we need to change the wiring on the top switch, we need to open the back of the connector and remove the gray wire and jut tape it back to the harness, now make a jumper wire to from the terminal were the gray wire was and have it go over to the center red & black wire on the Tonneau switch (see photo's WD1 & W6 in the wiring diagram you will see the gray wire that is only for reference this is were the jumper wire goes) I like to solder all my connections and heat shrink tubing to insulate them.

Now that you have all your connections made plug in the relay's and return power and make sure things operate the way it should, if every thing is good mount the relay's and make sure all your connections are covered, ( photo W9) make sure every thing is not interfering with the pull down assembly or the soft top.

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