Hardtop design flaw with window strut

[Baddie64]

Pleeeeeaase Ford, can the 2 door get a soft top?

Sponsored

 

[Seacat]

C'mon Ford, where's the metal hoop around the hatch opening, with integrated threaded studs for attachment points? The hoop would be bonded to the core and epoxied over. That strut attachment needs a complete ground-up redesign. I blend Monday. Can't wait!

That would add 2 or 3 lbs, c'mon, we can't have that!

 

[Mike E]

That’s a problem…..fun times for Ford….I hope you get a quick resolution from Ford….and No the answer is not a soft top….

 

[tracythemighty]

With all of the MIC issues, I am thinking of switching to the soft top. The cosmetic issues I can live with, but leaks and parts breaking off are another story.

 

[Smheard]

I was washing the Bronco getting it ready for the weekend. Was just finishing up by drying out my door jams and ran into an issue. While shutting the back window, heard this noise of plastic breaking/crumbling apart. Lifted up the window to inspect and the left strut came off.

Looks like the mounting bracket is glued to the hardtop and the whole thing popped off pulling part of the hard top with it. Only had the FE for 2 months and have used the window <10 times. Top is MIC 2.0. Looks like a trip to the dealership in the morning.

11/20 update: Getting a new top. Dealership definitely didn’t want to mess with it and submitted a claim for a replacement top. Will hear back back from Ford early next week. News spread fast with several of the dealership Bronco owners coming to take a look at it.

 

[VelocityBrew]

With all of the MIC issues, I am thinking of switching to the soft top. The cosmetic issues I can live with, but leaks and parts breaking off are another story.

Already did it, got a build date a week later.

 

[Toaster]

Ford needs to drop the plastic hardtop and go fiberglass. Better QC, stronger, and keeps sound out better

 

[AP_2004]

I haven’t had any issues with my soft top.

The issue with the soft top is it looks like sh

 

[Efthreeoh]

What does the other side look like?

 

[lakesinai]

I was washing the Bronco getting it ready for the weekend. Was just finishing up by drying out my door jams and ran into an issue. While shutting the back window, heard this noise of plastic breaking/crumbling apart. Lifted up the window to inspect and the left strut came off.

Looks like the mounting bracket is glued to the hardtop and the whole thing popped off pulling part of the hard top with it. Only had the FE for 2 months and have used the window <10 times. Top is MIC 2.0. Looks like a trip to the dealership in the morning.

11/20 update: Getting a new top. Dealership definitely didn’t want to mess with it and submitted a claim for a replacement top. Will hear back back from Ford early next week. News spread fast with several of the dealership Bronco owners coming to take a look at it.

I'll have to look at mine in the AM. A properly bonded fitting like that should hold, and a properly done epoxy repair should hold as well! I'd love to see yours up close!

It appears that the laminate in the area of the strut bond may have been thin, because it ripped off exposing the honeycomb below. On most boats that I've owned, I've bedded metal fittings, nuts & fasteners in the fiberglass laminate using epoxy, and they hold for years. So the bedding of metal fittings in figerglass laminate (gluing, as you say) is a sound practice IF PROPERLY DESIGNED AND EXECUTED.

I wish I could have your discarded top! Kudos to Ford for immediately offering you a new one. In the mean time, a properly done epoxy repair could hold until you get a new one, from what I can see on those dark photos.

 

[lakesinai]

Yes, the disc nuts are metal. I imagine mine had inadequate glue on the nuts so maybe others will never see this problem…Still not a good design. Rather would have liked to see a mounting bracket to the lip of the hardtop where the TP50 bolts into or where the soft top ready nut is into the body. Another bolt to take off to get the hardtop off but wouldn’t have this problem.

Hopefully, this is an isolated assembly problem on one top of the thousands of MIC tops made do far! Mine is good so far, and my back window is opened several times each day since i got it a month ago.

 

[grayshadow]

Just picked up my two door MIC hardtop on 11/19 and saw your post. I went to check and mine are bolted in.

Hope yours gets resolved quickly.

 

[Lazerus]

Bringing your new Bronco home be like:

 

[lakesinai]

I was washing the Bronco getting it ready for the weekend. Was just finishing up by drying out my door jams and ran into an issue. While shutting the back window, heard this noise of plastic breaking/crumbling apart. Lifted up the window to inspect and the left strut came off.

Looks like the mounting bracket is glued to the hardtop and the whole thing popped off pulling part of the hard top with it. Only had the FE for 2 months and have used the window <10 times. Top is MIC 2.0. Looks like a trip to the dealership in the morning.

11/20 update: Getting a new top. Dealership definitely didn’t want to mess with it and submitted a claim for a replacement top. Will hear back back from Ford early next week. News spread fast with several of the dealership Bronco owners coming to take a look at it.

Dune_Runner, is that honeycomb core or fiberglass cloth behind the area where the fitting broke off? Generally, when bonding a fitting or mounting bracket to a laminate, there should be no core material (honeycomb, foam, divinylcell) behind it, but rather solid resin or other material to serve as a sturdy backing material to the stresses of a fitting. Otherwise, it can pull out because the area lacks sufficient strength to support the embedded fasteners that attach the fitting (strut).

Sponsored