SirRobyn0
Full Access Member
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2019
- Posts
- 6,763
- Reaction score
- 11,453
- Location
- In the woods in Western Washington
- First Name
- Rob
- Truck Year
- 1984
- Truck Model
- C20
- Engine Size
- 305
I've heard guys complain about the quality of parts store and reproduction window regulators. So I thought I'd do a little write up on how to rehab them as we do this at the shop from time to time and follow this formula with great results. Or maybe you just want to keep you OEM unit, or want to save the money. Whatever your reason if you follow this, you have good shot at it working out. This procedure will work on both power and manual window regulators. The main concern we'd be addressing here would be slow up and down (for power) or hard crank, possibly not even movable (for manual). If it's broken and there is no connection to the window it's very likely that it'll need to be replaced. They aren't to hard to get in and out of the door in most cases so I'm going to focus on the rehabbing part.
Remove from door and inspect. Center pivot point may have a minor to moderate amount looseness and that's ok, as the tracks keep it centered for the most part, but if it's extremely loose, or looks like it might come apart there, then you're going to need a new one. Check to make sure none of the bars are bent, if they are you'll need to straighten them. Most of the time they are fine and can be rehabbed, without any additional work.
If it's power remove the motor off the regulator. Now you need to soak the assembly overnight in something, I'd prefer it be your favorite flavor of light penetrating oil PB or WD-40, and you'll need a bunch of it as you'll want to submerge it. If you don't wanna buy a couple gallons of WD, you can probably soak it in diesel fuel, but steer clear of gasoline or anything to harsh. Mainly you want something that will gently clean and leave behind a light layer of lubrication.
The next morning pull it out of your soak wipe off the excess penetrant and blow the excess out of the joints.
Following the picture below do the following: Red circle, lubricate the tracks those rollers go in with silicone grease. Blue circle, lubricate the two mating gears with silicone grease. If you don't have silicone grease on hand you can pick something else like a plain flavor of wheel bearing grease, in other words no graphite and not the stuff for boat trailers. Yellow circle, lubricate those with a spray on penetrating grease. If you don't have spray penetrating grease on hand, use something else, if you have hyperlube or another kind of motor honey on hand put a couple of dollops of that in place of the penetrating grease and let it soak in before you reassemble even plain 20W50 or 80W90 would be better than nothing.
The picture is of a manual regulator, but power units are similar circle color corresponds to what to lube in above paragraph.
Give it a shot, other than the down time with the overnight soak I doubt you'll have much more than a 1/2 hour more into it vs remove and replacing. Let me know if you have questions, now or later, I'll be around.
Remove from door and inspect. Center pivot point may have a minor to moderate amount looseness and that's ok, as the tracks keep it centered for the most part, but if it's extremely loose, or looks like it might come apart there, then you're going to need a new one. Check to make sure none of the bars are bent, if they are you'll need to straighten them. Most of the time they are fine and can be rehabbed, without any additional work.
If it's power remove the motor off the regulator. Now you need to soak the assembly overnight in something, I'd prefer it be your favorite flavor of light penetrating oil PB or WD-40, and you'll need a bunch of it as you'll want to submerge it. If you don't wanna buy a couple gallons of WD, you can probably soak it in diesel fuel, but steer clear of gasoline or anything to harsh. Mainly you want something that will gently clean and leave behind a light layer of lubrication.
The next morning pull it out of your soak wipe off the excess penetrant and blow the excess out of the joints.
Following the picture below do the following: Red circle, lubricate the tracks those rollers go in with silicone grease. Blue circle, lubricate the two mating gears with silicone grease. If you don't have silicone grease on hand you can pick something else like a plain flavor of wheel bearing grease, in other words no graphite and not the stuff for boat trailers. Yellow circle, lubricate those with a spray on penetrating grease. If you don't have spray penetrating grease on hand, use something else, if you have hyperlube or another kind of motor honey on hand put a couple of dollops of that in place of the penetrating grease and let it soak in before you reassemble even plain 20W50 or 80W90 would be better than nothing.
The picture is of a manual regulator, but power units are similar circle color corresponds to what to lube in above paragraph.
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Give it a shot, other than the down time with the overnight soak I doubt you'll have much more than a 1/2 hour more into it vs remove and replacing. Let me know if you have questions, now or later, I'll be around.
