Difficulty with soft top frame dismantling for refurb.

[aussiebattler]

Hi All,

Can anybody help with advice or experience on dismantling the soft top frame, in particular the rear bow from the hinges at either side.
I have managed ( maybe unwisely) to take out two screws on both sides, but the other screw just spins without undoing, now they will not tighten either.
So I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.
It appears there could be some sort of caged nut, but I cannot see how they would be put in place at the factory.
I had intended to get the rear frame re-chromed and obviously need to remove the attached hinges first.

I would be most grateful for advice.  Thanks Jack

[stickandrudderman]

The hinge screws are "stagged" by the factory after installation. Basically this means the protruding end of the screw is hit with a centre punch a few times to spread the end of the screw and so prevent it from withdrawing under use. When removing these screws it is imperative to file down the end of the screw first in order to remove the spread part of the thread. If you try to remove the screw without doing this then the wider part of the thread will be drawn through the narrower hole, causing it to jam. Any further force applied will simply strip the thread which sounds like where you are now.
The only solution is to drill out the damaged screw, repair the thread and  renew the screw.

[aussiebattler]

Hi Stick,
Thanks for getting back on this. Actually it's the three philips head screws on each side that hold the hinge to the rear bow that are/were the problem.
But an update, I have bitten the bullet and put a small hole saw through the outside of the frame right opposite the problem screw, I was able to get a pair of long nose pliers in through the hole to hold the caged nut inside, after plenty of CRC it came undone. Still not sure how they got the caged nuts inside the hollow frame.
The frame has already gone to the platers.
Thanks, Jack