I'm in the process of putting on a new soft top. But first I had to fix all the atrocities that the 800lb gorilla (previous owner
) did to the frame. I had no springs (both small pig tails and big coils) and one of the small lever arms was snapped off on the driver's side.
On top of that the frame was torqued, bent, and twisted somewhere so that the frame just would not close or open properly. Tyler S and I examined the frame for over an hour and we still could not see the problem. Tyler then got the idea of making a jig/pattern of a known good soft top frame. Sure enough the left side was slightly bent and invisible to the naked eye. Just a that little bend there make huge alignment issues as the frame opened and closed.
With the jig and the arm template I took it to our local welder to make the fixes. All is good now
I thought I would post the patterns of the frame arm and lever arm where the springs attach just in case somebody else has a problem. The lever arms are always a problem. Hopefully it will help somebody in the future.
The lever arm is made from angle iron and the width is 10mm.