This week I deleted my soft top and found that the difficulty is really over exaggerated. I don't think you can remove it without damaging the vinyl but you can separate the frame without cutting the arms off.
Once you have the entire contraption off you will find a pin on each side that is tack welded in and also a hex bit bolt welded in. I tried grinding the tack off the main pin but had no luck. What I ended up doing was drilling the outside of the pin with a 1/2" bit and the inside with a 3/4", this released the arms without damaging them. You have to be careful not to damage the mount by drilling straight but eventually the head of the pin will basically collapse. I'm confident I could make a new pin easily if they're not something Toyota sells.The tack on the hex bolt is easily grinded off with a dremel.
The main issue now is that the bolt that normally goes into the top hole of the mount isn't doing anything. You'll have to replace this bolt with a suitable short one that will hold the mount. I also found that once you remove the top it actually doesn't look half bad. There is a carpeted piece that covers most of the rear and two rubber pieces for the drains that covers the rest. It's not factory looking, but definitely livable.
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Once you have the entire contraption off you will find a pin on each side that is tack welded in and also a hex bit bolt welded in. I tried grinding the tack off the main pin but had no luck. What I ended up doing was drilling the outside of the pin with a 1/2" bit and the inside with a 3/4", this released the arms without damaging them. You have to be careful not to damage the mount by drilling straight but eventually the head of the pin will basically collapse. I'm confident I could make a new pin easily if they're not something Toyota sells.The tack on the hex bolt is easily grinded off with a dremel.
The main issue now is that the bolt that normally goes into the top hole of the mount isn't doing anything. You'll have to replace this bolt with a suitable short one that will hold the mount. I also found that once you remove the top it actually doesn't look half bad. There is a carpeted piece that covers most of the rear and two rubber pieces for the drains that covers the rest. It's not factory looking, but definitely livable.
