Disassembly of convertible top

Posted by ewrecks On 2016/4/26 0:04:46

The weather here finally broke and it seemed a good time to put some miles on the 1955 Caribbean. The car started right up and all fluids and systems were go......then I decided to drop the top. The immediate problem was that the passenger side was going up quicker than the driver side....so I stopped and libricated all of the joints and put the car back in the garage.
I left the car sit overnight and the next day opted to take the car outside and let the sun warm the new top. I unzipped the rear window, unsnapped the sides and started the lowering process. Same result. I shot some additional lube into the joints and then stood in the front seat area and Helton the top while it started up to keep the mechanism from twisting. I worked it up and down slowly until things seemed to have loosened up.
When the top was about a foot or so from going into the well....I heard a loud snap.
On inspection the aluminum bracket that attaches to the second bow from the rear had snapped in half at the point where the middle screw( three screws on each side attach the bow to the side brackets).
I returned the top to the up position carefully, cursed and put the car back in the garage.
It now looks,like it will probably be necessary to have the top at least partially removed to extract the part to see if it can be tig welded .
It appears on review of the limited literature and diagrams available that the
Attachments points are not secured by bolts but are either fitted with pressed pins or cotter keys at the ends of the shafts.
Has anyone out there ever disassembled the top rails to give some hint as to how crappy a job this will be.
I have some inquiries out for a replacement piece and would also be curious as to whether Packerd used the same top on anything other that the 55-56 Caribbean.
Any help will be appreciated.