I have a 1988 vw cabriolet, it of course has a manual top, and it goes about 2/3 rds of the way then it wont budge anymore. ive got it down before, then the next day i tried to put it down and it wont go no matter how much i push! i dont want to break it, but what do i do! is there a step i missing??

Make sure that as the top is folding backwards, the soft part of the top is not getting stuck in the hinges or between the support bars. If it is folding improperly, there might be a piece of the top that is keeping the rest from folding as it is supposed to. My father had this problem on his Mazda Miata once, but resolved it by paying closer attention when he opened it (he usually opened it from the driver's side, but once it started getting stuck, he had to walk around the car and make sure the passenger side was folding properly, too).
If it is not part of the soft top that is jamming you up, check the hinges all the way around. If one of them has a loose screw or broken rivit or something, that can jam it up too. Also, while the top is open, check the storage space that the top folds into -- if there is something in there, it could block the top from having the space to fold into.