1959 top issues

[Gyides24]

Hi guys I'm be to the club and just recently purchased my first retractable. It's a 59 and it came with the roof retracted into the trunk. It's a barn find and previous owner was unsure when it worked last. I tried jumping the relays and heard some clicking and grindings but the roof never came out. The best I felt was the package tray start retracting. Any advice on where to start on this and at least get the roof out. Thanks. I can't figure out how to attach pics of the top switch. But it's wired on a toggle switch with a yellow/orange/pink wire. It also appears a jumper has been put in place of the neutral switch.

[Ford Only]

I would not do any electrical testing till I made sure everything was cleaned up lubed and checked. you don't want to be jumping relays with the deck lid closed you can damage the top.
You can open the deck lid by unbolting the hold down screws that are on the front of the deck by taking out the bolts that are located under the rear of the wheel well, once those are out you can unbolt the deck lid jacks which are located at the far rear underside of the deck lid. I would not do any testing till the deck lid is in the open position & everything has been lubed, once you have the deck lid open you can manually raise the roof by on bolting the lift jacks at the front of the roof. You could carefully jump the roof solenoid just to see if it will go up but it would be better to check it out manually first.
You need to get a top manual, that will tell you how to check out everything.

[Gyides24]

Thanks for the help. The hold down screws are already out I'm sorry forgot to mention that and I can lift up on the trunk has about 4-5" it lifts up. I'll try everything you've suggested. I do have a manual on the way and was hoping just to get a jump start. Is there a 59 specific manual. The only one I found was 57-58 and related it would provide help with 59 also. Thanks again for the reply.

Eric

[Ford Only]

I thought I posted a response but when I looked now there is none.
The 57/58 top manual will cover everything you need, there is only one motor difference between the 57/58 & 59.
What you can do while waiting for your manual is to unbolt the two deck lid jacks from under the car, there should be two bolts in each one. when you have those removed you should easily able to lift the deck lid, it is counter balanced with springs and should lift about 3/4 of the way by itself.
You should then remove the deck lid jacks and clean & lube them, you should mark the case on the gear box to make sure you assemble them correctly, you should fill the gear box with light grease and grease the screw with a lot of lube, then test will a drill to see if the operate smoothly. If they are noisy they will need new bearings installed in them.
I would not operated the top electrically till everything was cleaned and lubed.

[Gyides24]

I managed to get the trunk open by removing the bolts for the deck lid lift. Something was definitely living in there. I propped the trunk open and was able to get the roof out and closed. I'll clean up those gear boxes and screw jacks etc. I'm hoping it was just the deck gears froze up and it'll work after there cleaned. Any recommendations on grease/lube/etc. Thanks again for the help.

[Ford Only]

I use wheel bearing grease but any light grease should work, if you live up North and plan on working the top when its really cold you will want to use a very light grease, it is very important to keep everything well lubed spare parts are hard to come by and expensive when you find them.
I would not operated the top till all the gear boxes and drive cables were lubed, I use 80-90 gear oil on my drive cables but you may want to use something lighter if you are in a colder climate.
If your handy you can even take the motors apart and clean and lube them, once you have done all the cleaning and lubing you should be good for several years unless you operated the top a lot.
I lube the screw drives once a year with gear oil other than that I don't anything, the Retractable that I have had for over 20 years still had good clean grease in the gear boxes when I checked them after almost 20 years so they go along time before needing
to be serviced.

[Gyides24]

Thanks for all the help. Ive since started to redo the screw jacks. I can see why the deck lid wouldn't move. The jacks were all frozen up on the inside when I pulled them apart looked like rust or hardened grease that was still in there. fortunately I had the donor car and was able to make one good one and get it nice and greased. I have another one I think I can get unfroze. I appreciate all the help hopefully once everything gets cleaned and redone the top will work ok.