Window channel adjustment
Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 10:22 am
A while back I closed my driver's side door with the window down. Something happened, I couldn't put my finger on it but something seemed different. Then I went to wind the window up and as it came up it stopped about halfway up. Okay, this could be scary. I guess I need to pull the skin off and see what has happened. Ah, the glass has come out of the forward guide. I re-adjust the glass back into the guide and Bob's yer uncle ~ it works again. Sometime later it happens again. All my anti RHD friends (or fiends) are saying (in a deep voice) "Oh, this is the beginning of the end. This is when you should trade your car in for a more practical, more suitably acceptable patriotic American built Ford Windstar" and all that rot.
Meanwhile, I'm getting good at re-adjusting my glass back into the guide. I no longer remove the inner skin from the door, just a few plastic rivets and my fingers know where to go.
So... I find myself in contact with Andii of the Shaun van Ramen about door issues. The Shaun van Ramen was hit and consequently the passenger door was replaced. I paid a visit to the House of van Ramen and we disassembled what was left of the old door. I mentioned about my window issue and my thoughts on what could be causing it. After we finished with Shaun's old door, we take a look at the Miss Lil' Bitchi's door and started brainstorming. Having been milling about with all the door components, we got to thinking. I thought that maybe it was a some rubber or plastic part at the aft end of the window configuration that had worn out and no longer kept it in the track but we could not find any such thing. The other option was at the guide itself. This is where Andii looks more carefully at the two bolts that hold the guide in place. Lo and behold, after years of vibration from driving down logging roads &c., they've loosened off and this is the source of the issue.
If you ever close your door and you hear a rattle ~ this is why. It's these two bolts, the guide and the glass vibrating. It is also a symptom that your window is going to have this issue. We repositioned the guide (you pretty much are "tuning" it) and tightened the bolts. The window now closes properly and get this ~ the door doesn't rattle anymore. It closes like a brand new car door ~ and all it took was the tightening of two ten millimetre bolts! So simple.
This post is the preface to the rest of the thread where we're going to describe, step by step how it works, as time permits. Perhaps Andii can take pictures of his old door components for reference purposes.
Falco.
Meanwhile, I'm getting good at re-adjusting my glass back into the guide. I no longer remove the inner skin from the door, just a few plastic rivets and my fingers know where to go.
So... I find myself in contact with Andii of the Shaun van Ramen about door issues. The Shaun van Ramen was hit and consequently the passenger door was replaced. I paid a visit to the House of van Ramen and we disassembled what was left of the old door. I mentioned about my window issue and my thoughts on what could be causing it. After we finished with Shaun's old door, we take a look at the Miss Lil' Bitchi's door and started brainstorming. Having been milling about with all the door components, we got to thinking. I thought that maybe it was a some rubber or plastic part at the aft end of the window configuration that had worn out and no longer kept it in the track but we could not find any such thing. The other option was at the guide itself. This is where Andii looks more carefully at the two bolts that hold the guide in place. Lo and behold, after years of vibration from driving down logging roads &c., they've loosened off and this is the source of the issue.
If you ever close your door and you hear a rattle ~ this is why. It's these two bolts, the guide and the glass vibrating. It is also a symptom that your window is going to have this issue. We repositioned the guide (you pretty much are "tuning" it) and tightened the bolts. The window now closes properly and get this ~ the door doesn't rattle anymore. It closes like a brand new car door ~ and all it took was the tightening of two ten millimetre bolts! So simple.
This post is the preface to the rest of the thread where we're going to describe, step by step how it works, as time permits. Perhaps Andii can take pictures of his old door components for reference purposes.
Falco.