The cables have nothing to do with the mechanism not locking. With the tonneau cover raised use the stem of a decent screwdriver and push the part of the catch that the cover strikes down and make sure it locks in place, then pull the chrome lever to check it pops open again. If that's OK loosen the 2 mounting bolts and raise the catch slightly, there's a fair bit of adjustment and has probably dropped a little having had the cover thumped down on it hundreds of times over the years. It's a balance between getting the catch to operate and not having the cover sitting too high when closed, bit of trial and error to find the sweet spot.
I spent 80 hours putting right 100 faults on the soft top in the first year of ownership; I couldn’t believe it. The last owner acquired the soft top from a breaker yard in the 1980’s ( never had one from new )and spent 30 years and no small amount of money on paying people to fix it but received disappointment! I am a mechanical Engineer and I managed to sort it after some head scratching and sore fingers
Tony, I think a bit of oil or WD40 on the latches and striker pins wouldn't go a miss, then if that works, then grease up the latches with some LM grease keeping them lubricated and stop it rusting. Everything looks very dry and even rusty!
Thanks for the nightmares, Tony. Mine was completely rooted, and I pulled the lot out to replace missing bits and attack the rust. I've no idea of how I did it, though I had the workshop manual. I put the frame back togeher, but the soft top was still shrunken and manky. In the meantime, I put a hoist on the roof of the garage, and lifted the hardtop off using a seat belt between the upper window frames and that pin at the back when we wanted to go topless. Were we caught out in the rain with people laughing at us? Yes. I hope that someone knowledgeable will have answers for you.
The cables have nothing to do with the mechanism not locking. With the tonneau cover raised use the stem of a decent screwdriver and push the part of the catch that the cover strikes down and make sure it locks in place, then pull the chrome lever to check it pops open again.
If that's OK loosen the 2 mounting bolts and raise the catch slightly, there's a fair bit of adjustment and has probably dropped a little having had the cover thumped down on it hundreds of times over the years. It's a balance between getting the catch to operate and not having the cover sitting too high when closed, bit of trial and error to find the sweet spot.
I spent 80 hours putting right 100 faults on the soft top in the first year of ownership; I couldn’t believe it. The last owner acquired the soft top from a breaker yard in the 1980’s ( never had one from new )and spent 30 years and no small amount of money on paying people to fix it but received disappointment! I am a mechanical Engineer and I managed to sort it after some head scratching and sore fingers
Tony, I think a bit of oil or WD40 on the latches and striker pins wouldn't go a miss, then if that works, then grease up the latches with some LM grease keeping them lubricated and stop it rusting. Everything looks very dry and even rusty!
Thanks for the nightmares, Tony.
Mine was completely rooted, and I pulled the lot out to replace missing bits and attack the rust. I've no idea of how I did it, though I had the workshop manual. I put the frame back togeher, but the soft top was still shrunken and manky.
In the meantime, I put a hoist on the roof of the garage, and lifted the hardtop off using a seat belt between the upper window frames and that pin at the back when we wanted to go topless.
Were we caught out in the rain with people laughing at us? Yes.
I hope that someone knowledgeable will have answers for you.
Definitely an art form - but I think I know how it works..time will tell when we do it! All the best and thanks for posting!