Spoolin

Hey guys,

So I finally got an OEM hardtop and bought the hardtop strikers and rear latches and installed everything. One problem I'm having is the drivers side striker seems to hold the front of the top up about 1/8" higher than the passenger side and there isn't any way to adjust it. The passenger side pulls down onto the seal nice and tight and the drivers side is just not as snug. I've tried all kinds of adjusting with the rear latches with pushing them to the rear and down before tightening them down to be the best I can get the front drivers side to fit. I purchased the hardtop strikers from Majestic. Could one of them be off some or is this just something common with the way the OEM hardtops can fit at times?

One other note is I removed the soft top completely, so the corner sections in the rear had to be readjusted for the hardtop latches to fit them properly. It seems the soft top had a spacer that was lost once the soft top was removed. I don't think this is causing anything because the way I was able to adjust everything and tighten it back down, didn't put any kind of bind on anything.

Thanks

Spoolin

Nobody can help?

licelsior

only thing i can think of is the other side is too far which is causing it to be uneven. i believe on hardtopguy's website, theres a pdf for the hardtop install from the service manual.

Spoolin

Thanks bud. I'll check out Hardtopguys site and see if the install coincides with the way I did the install.

jXxviii

I've had the exact same issue before, and it was extremely annoying. I just stuck a tiny thick piece of cardboard between the hook and the striker which helped get a tighter grab on one side. It helped for a while before I changed to these: https://www.balladesports.com/produc...-upper-bracket.

Spoolin

Interesting....... So the Ballad brackets had enough adjustment that you could pull the top good and tight to the A-pillar? How do these work? Do you remove the front latches? I tried loosening the screws on it the other day to see if it had movement and those things are tight a hell and may have locktight on the threads.

Orjinal

You can shim the driver side striker to bring it down 1/8".

Spoolin

I tried that with washers but it still didn't bring it down all the way. Something with the angle of the spacing isn't letting it pull it tight. Would probably need to space it too much to get it correct and then the plastic molding won't fit back on properly. I've tried this.

Orjinal

There should be three thin aluminum spacers between the front latches and the hardtop itself. Did you check if they're present on both sides?

Spoolin

You talking about on the hardtop itself? I hadn't looked to see if there are any shims under the latches but that would raise the hardtop up even further if there is. The screws in the latches on the hard top are very tight and feel like they may have loctight on the threads, so I stopped trying to unscrew them when I was trying to see if there could be some adjustment there.