On factory made hot rod cabriolet tops there are two "locking rods" between the two rear bowes. Each rod is linked on the middle, making it possible to fold it in two equal halves. To lock it in full length, there are a short piece of pipe, that is slided over the link preventing it from folding. What are these rods called in english? Are they availiable form other sources, like on Ebay, boat stores or others?
well....I'm not seeing it as factory Cab stuff....looks like a shaft with a link in the middle you can slide an out side shaft over....we have a colapsible 4 way lug wrench that has that st up....
Rod Tops are using these. I thought maybe they were some kind of standard stuff like rigging screws, for example.
An update on this one. After googling around quite some without finding much, I decided to make those rods myself. I started with -2 pcs of cheap 1/4 socket swiwl adapters (they are 14mm in overal diameter) -2 pcs 14mm bolts. -2 pcs of closed body turnbuckles that were 14mm in overall diameter. Plus some thin walled pipe I had. I cut the turnbuckles in 2, lengthened them a bit by using the bolts, and welded in the universal links. The pipe I had was a little too wide, so I had to shrink the diameter a bit.
Google folding, collapsible or scissor struts. There are some really nice 7/8" diameter folding struts in stainless steel for boat tops. Glad you brought this up I am going to need two for the Cabrio pickup I'm building right now.
Thanks for the tip! My home made ones don't have a high finish, but they work, didn't cost much, and are not very visible when the top is completed. And if I made one more pair, they would have been nicer than these first ones. But I'm too lazy to do that!
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