Klaus, I'll try to get a photo of it that shows the damage in an understandable way - the damage is in an area few have likely actually seen. Basically, the internal hex lug on the top latch, where you manually lock/unlock the top, seems to have stripped out on the previous owner. He has welded a hex nut (11mm flats) on top of the hex opening, so the mechanism is now worked with an 11mm socket. This, I think, was the death knoll for this rotating pin. I think the heat treatment was 'fried' by the heat from welding. The current damage is at the end of the rotating pin. The round shaft changes to a square drive and the square end has sheered off flush. The square drive engages to work one of the locking pawls within the latch - only mine does not now. I can't see that a rebuild of the latch is possible or likely, so it looks like I need to source a replacement passenger side latch. Real shame too as it looks like it was manufactured yesterday, aside from the PO's dinking.Herb,
hope you'll have a chance to post some pictures of the broken latch. Maybe it's fixable, or at least we may be able to figure out how it died and know exactly what to blame a brutal previous owner for...
-Klaus
Herb
