Electric Life power windows don't fit

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David Dickerson

David Dickerson

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Anyone out there tried to install a CR47 direct bolt in power window kit from Electric Life? I have a '74 duster and their mechanism doesn't come close. It will bolt to the mount holes on the door just fine, but it has a scissor arm mechanism to raise and lower the window. My '74 has only one lift point in the center of the door, which rides on a rod. Electric Life hasn't been any help. I have e-mailed and called, and am getting nowhere. Looks to me like I will have to take their mechanism, cut it apart, and weld it back together to make a single arm lift like the stock one. Their website says it is a direct bolt in for '73-'76. I can't find anything on line to help me with this. Someone out there must have tried this. Called Classic Industries where I bought the kit, and they said they haven't had any issues.

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Is it possible the thing is mis-boxed? I know NOTHING about these otherwise
 
I have a set for my 70 Dart and they only have one arm. Maybe you can check out electric Life's web page and make some sense of it.
 
Looks like you got the wrong part.
 
I have two of these kits and they look like what you have. I did a quick test fit on my 73 swinger door and it looks like it should work. The original regulator was pretty much the same minus the motor.
They changed the door in 73 on the darts when they ommited the vent windows. The regulators changed as well to compensate for the larger glass. I dont know if duster changed too since they always had the full glass.

1973 Dodge Dart Parts | MD650102 | 1973-76 Mopar A-Body 2 Door Front Power Window Conversion Set | Classic Industries

I also got the billet switch kit. I looked at it and have no idea on how its supposed to mount. Anyone else used the billet switch?
 
retroron said:
I have a set for my 70 Dart and they only have one arm. Maybe you can check out electric Life's web page and make some sense of it.
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Their website doesn't have a picture, but every company that sells them online shows the same one that I have. I need to find someone that has put them in a Duster to see what their lift mechanism looks like. I can cut mine up and weld it back together to match the original, but I want to find out if there is one that they manufacture that will fit. You Tube has in install on an E body, but no A body installs.
 
MoparMike1974 said:
I have two of these kits and they look like what you have. I did a quick test fit on my 73 swinger door and it looks like it should work. The original regulator was pretty much the same minus the motor.
They changed the door in 73 on the darts when they ommited the vent windows. The regulators changed as well to compensate for the larger glass. I dont know if duster changed too since they always had the full glass.

1973 Dodge Dart Parts | MD650102 | 1973-76 Mopar A-Body 2 Door Front Power Window Conversion Set | Classic Industries

I also got the billet switch kit. I looked at it and have no idea on how its supposed to mount. Anyone else used the billet switch?
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When you say the original regulator was pretty much the same, do you mean it is the same as the Electric Life unit, or like mine in the picture. The problem is that not only does the EL unit have two lift arms, but the distance from the pivot to the roller is much longer than on my original.
 
I meant that the new unit was the same arrangement as my original, with the three lift points. Also, it did bolt into my door shell just fine but I did not install the glass. In my case I didnt see any reason it would not work.
 
MoparMike1974 said:
I meant that the new unit was the same arrangement as my original, with the three lift points. Also, it did bolt into my door shell just fine but I did not install the glass. In my case I didnt see any reason it would not work.
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I was looking on Ebay last night at window regulators. It seems like the '73 has a single arm but two rollers. This leads me to believe that they may have changed the glass mount in '74. My regulator only has one roller. The glass for the '73-'74 years may also have either 5 or 7 holes. Mine has 7. I am going to look at another Duster in a junkyard close by. Not sure of the year, but maybe that will give me some more answers. Does your original regulator have two rollers? How many holes in your glass?
 
I do recall the 74 glass being different. I parted a 74 and did not keep the glass because there was some difference in the way it mounted to the regulator. This is on a swinger, not sure about duster.
My glass is out in storage. I will check it this weekend if I can remember.
 
MoparMike1974 said:
I do recall the 74 glass being different. I parted a 74 and did not keep the glass because there was some difference in the way it mounted to the regulator. This is on a swinger, not sure about duster.
My glass is out in storage. I will check it this weekend if I can remember.
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Found the answer. For anyone out there that has a '74 Duster and wants to put an electric life bolt on (CR 47) electric window regulator, IT WON'T FIT!! They changed the window regulator in '74. I went and looked at a '73 in my local junkyard, and it is totally different. Electric Life must have engineered their kit off of a '73 door, but didn't do the research to see if anything changed after that. I was thinking of taking the guts out of the car in the junkyard and installing them in my '74, but I already purchased new glass and the holes in the glass are different to accommodate the different set-up. I just spent yesterday cutting the electric life unit apart and modifying it to work for my application. Looks like it is going to work. Had to turn it into a one arm unit, and relocate the mounting holes. Had to change the angle of the arm also, since it didn't lower the window all the way down. Electric Life could make this unit by simply taking the original regulator and making it electric. They engineer the units by sending an original door to Italy. In this case, they could just use the regulator. Going to try and work with the Tech guy from Electric Life. Hope they get the message and stop advertising this to fit model years '73-'75. Hard to believe no one has tried to put one of these in a '74. Maybe they just sent them back, or did what I did.
 
Please share more detail on what you had to modify and how it worked. I am considering power windows for my 74 Duster.

Cley
 
89on35s said:
Please share more detail on what you had to modify and how it worked. I am considering power windows for my 74 Duster.

Cley
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89on35s said:
Please share more detail on what you had to modify and how it worked. I am considering power windows for my 74 Duster.

Cley
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You would need to cut the arm off before the scissor pivot, measure the length of the arm on your stock regulator and then cut the arm of the Electric Life unit past the scissor pivot to match the length of the stock unit. Tack weld that back together. The arm on the EL unit doesn't lower enough to bring the window all the way down, so you will need to drill out the spot welds and re-weld the arm at the correct angle. I just took my original regulator, installed it in the door and lowered the window all the way down. I used a t-bevel square to measure the angle and then tacked the EL arm back on at that angle. You then have to move the three regulator mount locations on the EL unit because they aren't in the corrrect location for the new arm length. I elected not to remove all the tabs since relocating and getting the geometry might be difficult, let alone more time consuming. I just moved the forward mounting hole back 2 1/8" (that's what the difference between the stock unit and EL unit was), then I drilled two new holes in the door to match up with the two other tabs on the EL unit. After that, I checked fit to see if everything worked and then finished welding everything on. Works Great! Maybe EL with make one before you need to do this. I am going to do what I can to encourage them, but as we all know, "It's not a Ford or Chevy", so don't count on it. Good Luck with your build.

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Do they sell a kit for 72 Duster’s? Didn’t see anything mentioned on their website
 
"You would have to investigate to see if there is any difference in the stock set-up of the '72 from the '73."
It changed on the swinger but that may only be because they ommited the vent window in 73. Since duster didnt have the vent window it probably was the same regulator until 74.
Like I said, 74 was not compatible when I compared it to my 73 guts. I wanted to save the windows for spares but as you found out, the holes in the glass are not the same.
Instead of cutting and welding the new regulator, could the motor portion be made to fit the original regulator? Might be less work in the end.
 
MoparMike1974 said:
"You would have to investigate to see if there is any difference in the stock set-up of the '72 from the '73."
It changed on the swinger but that may only be because they ommited the vent window in 73. Since duster didnt have the vent window it probably was the same regulator until 74.
Like I said, 74 was not compatible when I compared it to my 73 guts. I wanted to save the windows for spares but as you found out, the holes in the glass are not the same.
Instead of cutting and welding the new regulator, could the motor portion be made to fit the original regulator? Might be less work in the end.
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I think that would have been more difficult, and I would be using used parts. This way everything was still new.
 
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