Recently my driver side latch broke from the plastic cross part on the inside. I ended up buying a replacement but the latch did not close because it was wayy too tight. When I close the latch half way the top was already sealed and due to that the latch can’t be latched again. The part number I got was 86260-S2A-J01. I’m assuming it’s because the hook was a little too short. The parts looked identical though.

What can I do does this have something to do with the strikers? Is there another part number ?

Also I still have the plastic piece I ended up jb welding it but it keeps on breaking off when I close the top 1/5 times.
I do re latch the latch when closing so I still don’t know why this happens.
My year model is 2004
Any help is appreciated.

 

I have seen 3 different styles of latches. 00-01, 02+ and I swear I have seen ones that are on or for the hard top. I know that there are Hard Top STRIKERS which mount to the windshield. You can look to try and adjust the striker itself but you need to pull all the plastic down/out first. Pillar and the one across the top of the windshield. Screws are inside the dome light. See if you can get some extra play out of those and have it latch with the new latch you have. Make sure that you put the right screws in the right holes, one is flat and the other one is recessed.

 

There are hard top latches and they are different, they are smaller than the soft top latches. I've had them on my soft top since i purchased it 17 years ago.

 

Thank you luckily I still haven't returned the latch so ill see if I can adjust these strikers. I also did make sure the screws were on right for both the old and the new.

On a side note I'm pretty sure I found why the latch broke. I noticed that the bar that comes down when putting the soft top down wasn't fully going down,
therefore it would make contact with the latch and put tension on it and break it open so i just have to replace those straps that pull it and for now I just have to manually put that bar down.

 

Side by side this is the old latch

New latch
it’s barely noticeable but the old one is a little longer why is this ? on the new one I can’t put my ring finger in between the gap but on my old one I can.

 

I now suspect you currently have the earlier, longer latch on the car which for some reason was installed some time thru the ages. The fact the part you just got (which is the right part number) is excessively tight indicates you need the earlier part.

Previous part number was 86260-S2A-013 which was for the early 2000-2001 cars (with the plastic rear window?) and seems ti be longer as I've seen notes that for a tighter fit you can fit the hardtop strikers. I'd try that part.

But I can almost get two finders into the latch on my 2006 car when it's open so who knows?

-- Chuck

 

Maybe there was some problem that occurred, and po fitted these older, longer hooked latches to solve it.

So now one breaks for unrelated reason, you go to replace with correct part, doesn't fit bc of whatever that issue back then was.

 

No Idea why these are on here but I've concluded that it made contact with the bar that's supposed to retract with the straps on the soft top. I saw that because the bar didn't come down it created tension with the latch and broke it open. This would've actually happened even with the new latch I got since its the same size as the old part besides the hook. I also already ordered new straps for the soft top.

 

Thank you so much Chuck I will definitely order that part number and try it out but for now its jb weld is my savior.