Help! Soft Top Emergency!

[jamief]

believe it or not this just happened to me! and its supposed to rain tonight.

i took my old top off. had it off for about a week or so. since its going to rain, i was just attempting to install my new premium top i bought off someone (brand new, never used). i got the wheels in the tracks, installed the 2 bolts on each side near the locks. i go to close the top and its about 3-4" from closing. the top back will not go up all the way (ie flat). ill see if i can snap some video of whats happening.

its pretty straight forward removal and reinstall so i dont know what im doing wrong. and everything is brand new, no branches or anything to be stuck.

i noticed the back portion would not go all the way up and lock into place like it normally does.

it needs time to stretch in the sun. they do that when they are new

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[Pig-Pen]

is it a new top? I had that problem when it was new.. you need to force it closed. then leave in the sun for a couple days

thats my case. Im leaving it closed for a few days so it can stret in the sun. Was hot last week, this week not so much.

 

[O)()()()()(O]

thats my case. Im leaving it closed for a few days so it can stret in the sun. Was hot last week, this week not so much.

Agreed. Did my hardtop / soft top swap yesterday, sunny and upper 70s.

New premium top was in factory packaging since purchase 10/19. Watched the Quardratec YouTube Install video and followed it step by step (excellent).

1st attempt to close was 2-3” short. Sat in sun for 2 hours resulting in 1 latch after a struggle and the 2nd one wouldn’t latch. I unlatched and waited another hour in full sunlight. Finally both latched but it was tight.

Let it bake in the sun for another hour and attempted to open the top. Only 1 latch would open at a time. After about 10 mins I left them both closed and let nature take its course.

Another warm, clear day today and parked in direct sunlight. This afternoon, both latches opened and closed several times no issues. Its amazing how much expansion there was from the sunlight.

 

[JeepNut80]

It will stretch out over time as you use it. i've even notice that after taking off the soft top this past winter and putting it back on this spring that it needed a few more times to stretch out again.

 

[_olllllllo_]

Agreed. Did my hardtop / soft top swap yesterday, sunny and upper 70s.

New premium top was in factory packaging since purchase 10/19. Watched the Quardratec YouTube Install video and followed it step by step (excellent).

1st attempt to close was 2-3” short. Sat in sun for 2 hours resulting in 1 latch after a struggle and the 2nd one wouldn’t latch. I unlatched and waited another hour in full sunlight. Finally both latched but it was tight.

Let it bake in the sun for another hour and attempted to open the top. Only 1 latch would open at a time. After about 10 mins I left them both closed and let nature take its course.

Another warm, clear day today and parked in direct sunlight. This afternoon, both latches opened and closed several times no issues. Its amazing how much expansion there was from the sunlight.

Had the same experience when I switched from the hard top to soft top I did it in December (in Southern Arizona) and it was darn cold (55˚) and it was at night. I thought I had screwed up something with the gap being sizable. Luckily after open and closing and pushing on the header in the soft top I got it to latch. I do wish the instructions let you know that you should expect that and doing it on a warm (70˚+) sunny day is helpful. I love the soft top and recently switched back to the hard top so that I can pull a Uhaul trailer. I will go back to the soft top when I am finished using the trailer.

 

[Pig-Pen]

im almost afraid to lower it again lol. luckily its been fairly hot here so it should be nice and stretched by now.

 

[word302]

It will stretch out over time as you use it. i've even notice that after taking off the soft top this past winter and putting it back on this spring that it needed a few more times to stretch out again.

Same

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