How I installed new window rollers

6pak said:

where do you find a better kit?
Or how to replace the larger roller?
Check the cabinet dept at Lowes?
Modifly the given in the kit. ?

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• Vans Auto kit does not include enough rubber washers if you're gonna replace all of yours.. While you're at it, you'll need to probably replace some of the spacers inside the window.. As I saw in someone's post, "your window should never have glass-on-metal contact".. They mentioned that fuel line makes a great spacer.. I like nylon spacers, but more on that later..
  
• Now's the time to replace the fuzzy felt and/or the rubber in the window channel.. You'll have direct access to the screws that hold it in place because the window comes out..
• I greased all the rollers where the ball socket inserts as well as on the other side.. I figure, ya can't go wrong doing that on a roller.. I only had disc brake bearing grease handy from the brake install I did, so I used that. I'm sure there's better stuff, but anything was better than the sludge that was left from the factory's greasing it 50 years ago..

1. Pull door panel.. To get that out, you do need to pop the plastic thingy that goes around the door pull handle.. The door handle doesn't otherwise need to be messed with..
   
2. Mark the position of bolts, nuts, etc. I used a pencil and it showed up pretty decently. (mine had yellow underneath the door panel, so it was easy).
3. A 7/16 socket or wrench should take care of all unbolting.. I didn't need any extensions..
4. Might as well do this now--I did it later, but it's really helpful if you know... You'll need to unscrew the plastic cap covering top of the door (the plastic piece), as well as the metal piece underneath that..
   
5. I unbolted the vertical guides first.. These rollers were already crumbled, so it wasn't a big deal for me. If your rollers weren't gone already, you'd need to unbolt the upward stops at the top of the guides..
6. There are two bolts that hold in a tiny section of a horizontal guide (on the left side of the door).. My roller for this was broken, as well, so I didn't need to remove it until later, but I think if yours was still there, this would need to get unbolted..
   
7. There is a horizontal guide that is bolted to the bottom of the window.. Two nuts hold it in place..
8. By now, the window should be ready to rest at the bottom of the door.. That's fine.. That'll allow you to move the guides out of the way (they come out through the access holes as the bottom of the door..)
   
9. The window regulator comes out too.. 3 bolts.. Pops out of the access ports at the bottom of the door as well.
10. I had to unbolt the two threaded posts (the ones that held the horizontal guide) to get my window out.. A pair of needle-nose pliers inserted into the slots should do you fine.. Unbolts like a standard bolt.. lefty-loosey and all that..
11. The window lifted up-and-out, but it had to be negotiated around various obstacles.. It had be tilted inward quite a bit to navigate to the right spot.. On the way out, I had to get one side clear and then slide the window over
    
12. A brass brush works great to get rid of the corrosion on the pieces, as well as the old grease in the channels..
13. The white rollers from the Van's auto kit are for your window crank mechanism.. I chose to cut off the original posts because the Vans Auto ones were a direct match. (at the O'Reilly's autoparts store, I did see that the generic "window roller" parts looked like like they'd work in a pinch.. Their post is hollow, though, so I dunno how one swedges that.. more on that later..)
14. Cutting off the posts was done with a dremel tool with a cut-off wheel.. I cut off the short part of the post so that it could be popped through.. I also marked an X lightly with the dremel so that I knew not to put the new post on backwards. lol. If you don't have punches handy, hitting the post in different directions with a hammer worked just fine to pop it loose..
    
15. I ground the bottom of one of them entirely flat to use as a mini anvil for installing the new posts.. I put the "anvil" on the concrete, and then stacked the new roller on that.. Then, it went through the hole of the regulator assembly.. basically, what I want is that when I smack the new post's shaft, it'll transfer that force to the concrete and not the nylon roller itself.. Since the old post and the new post are the same size, the pins can be lined up flat-top to flat-top to accomplish that.. Mushrooming the end of the post is what holds it in place.. (called swedging..) I didn't feel like I needed to epoxy or tack a weld on it to hold it in place.. But, if you're really wanting to make sure, I suppose you could do that..
    
16. I have NO CLUE how the Van's Auto kit handles the orange rollers.. I can see they have a hex head, and that they are threaded.. But, there's no corresponding hardware and... it doesn't appear that they in any way would match the factory post heights.. So, I used the orange rollers as the rollers for the posts on the window.. These are the ones that ride in the vertical guides.. So, I chose not to hack off the ball-and-socket posts from the windows.. Instead, I popped the orange rollers off.. I was stumped on how to do this without breaking the brand new rollers.. That is, until I asked my neighbor for ideas.. He suggested heating the post until it's still cool enough not to melt, but warm enough to soften up so the socket can be popped off.. Well, I used a 10mm deep socket to hold the roller (post inserted into the socket).. I popped it up while holding a finger on the hex-head side, applied a butane torch to the threaded end of the post.. I could sell how hot the piece was getting around where the roller needed to pop off this way.. I went for "uncomfortable to hold my finger on it, but not enough to burn me.." before I rested the nylon socket on top of the 10mm deep socket.. Then I used the allen wrench to apply downward force on the metal post.. basically, I wanted the nylon roller braced against the 10mm deep socket while I applied pressure on the metal post so I could pop it out.. It did pop out.. I have this feeling I may have gotten a little hot and melted it a tiny bit, but after it popped off I ran over and popped it on the original window post without incident.. I should have greased that post initially, it would have popped on even easier.. As it is, it stays on the post, so I think that's a victory! I repeated the feat for the other window post..
    
17. Now you've got new rollers on everything.. But, you haven't yet addressed the window theaded posts.. Mine were shifting around quite a bit because the old rubber washers were completely desiccated and snapped at the slightest provocation.. The same goes for the little insert which keeps the threaded metal parts from damaging the window.. Of course, I did this swap on Easter Sunday, so my preferred hardware places were closed.. Heck, even Lowe's was closed, so I did Home Depot.. I got rubber washers (1-1/2 inch outer diameter.. Not a lot of choice for the inner diameter.. 3/16 I think it was..) and nylon spacers there (they didn't have much options, so I went for 1/2" outer diameter, 3/16 inside diameter, 1/2" long.. The factory spacers were .35 inches long, but that may have been compression/drying out over time.... The nylon spacers did have to get drilled out (a paaaaaaaaain!) to fit over the metal screw-on-washer thingy's post.. I could have used the included nylon/plastic pieces from the Vans auto kit, but I believe that if there's nothing wrong with the factory metal fasteners, why tempt fate? Nylon can get brittle and break.. At least if all I'm using nylon for is a spacer, it's less likely to be a catastrophic failure.. I won't be around in 50 years when it needs to be redone.. lol.. If I had to do this over again, I'd probably just use some good 3/8s fuel line as a spacer.. The hole is 1/2", so that gives you a little wiggle room..
    
18. Here's where you need a second pair of hands.. holy cow.. The window gets inserted back into the door.. Going in, I was able to line up the rollers and stuff so they went in without problem.. I left off the threaded posts and did those with the window inside the door.. Not sure if this was the best way to do it, but it's how I did it. lol.
19. Did you remember to grease the guides? I also greased the pivoting part of the window, but mine was SOOOO old and gross that even with as much grease as I could force in it still would only pivot with a hammer.. if I wasn't running up against night fall, I'd have maybe soaked the part in some vinegar for a few hours to free it up..
    
20. While a helper holds the window it place, slide the vertical guides over the orange rollers.. they don't need to get bolted in yet.. (I did that and then had to unbolt them later.. oof..)
    
21. Reassembly.. Now that everything has rollers, I had to trial and error a bit.. But it did finally come together.. I next popped the window regulator back into place.. You did grease that part too, right? Mine definitely got smoother once I did that..)..
    
22. I bolted the small horizontal guide (left side of door) back on after making sure the window regulator roller fit and slid smoothly..
    
23. It got a little complicated here, because I hadn't bolted the large horizontal guide back on to the window.. In fact, I hadn't redone the rubber washers either.. (hint: since you can't get the right internal diameter for the 1-1/2" neoprene washers at Home Depot, one of those 1/2" nylon spacers can be used as a guide to cut the center of a rubber washer larger.. If I was really cool, I'd have a 1/2" leather punch so I could make a nice crisp hole.. But, nah.. an X-acto knife and a "good enough for government work" attitude got me close enough.. So, to do the threaded posts, I had to really lay my arm at the bottom of the door while the window rested on it so I could barely fumble the threaded posts into place.. But, after a bit, I got 'em to work..
    
24. Slide the horizontal guide on to the regulator rollers.. Now, be careful not to wedge your window against the regulator as you try your best to find a spot where you can line up the holes in the horizontal guide with the threaded posts.. This was a little bit nerve wracking for me.. laying the window on my arm made finessing this kinda annoying..
25. While a friend holds the window, you can now position the vertical guides so they can be properly bolted in..

JollyRajR said:

Raj
'73 Dartillac..

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6pak said:

Premature POST. Kinda blew it.

Re-Reading this post. Realized rollers popped apart. Found my rear post had same ball dia as the others.
- so, popped it apart and pressed onto the old ball.

not a big deal.

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