Window Regulator How-To
The driver’s side window regulator on my ’74 sedan was really stiff to roll up, so I removed and cleaned it up. I hadn’t seen any photo how-to’s of this procedure so I took lots of pictures. Total time excluding the photo-taking was about 3 hours, but the next time will be faster. This was the first time I did this, and fortunately it went better than expected. If anyone has suggestions please feel free and I will update.
1) Remove window crank, door lever, and door handle.
2) Gently pry off the door panel, it’s held in by clips all the way around. To get started, take a wide putty knife with masking tape on the end to protect against scratches. Then just use your fingers to pry it off. If it’s been on there a long time you may break some clips, but new ones are available.
3) Remove the plastic vapor barrier that’s behind the panel. If there’s no barrier, be sure you install one, just use 3 mil or thicker plastic/poly sheeting cut to size. It’s available at home improvement stores in the paint section (with the drop cloths). Even if there’s an existing sheet in the door, it’s probably torn and should be replaced anyway. You can use double-sided tape to hold it on. Use the old sheet or the door panel as a guide to cutting the new sheet.
4) If you’d like to open the door further for more working room, undo the door catch by removing the clip and pin.
5) The bare door.
6) Temporarily put the window handle on (no need to screw it in), then lower the window all the way down. Remove the two bolts that hold the window to the regulator, holding the window so it doesn’t fall. All the hex bolts in this procedure come off with a 10 mm socket.
7) Remove the single bolt at the very bottom that holds the regulator to the door. Depending how tight the regulator is against the glass you may choose to remove the glass next (at step 9) or remove additional bolts first (step 8 ).
8 ) Remove the bolt at the top center that hold the regulator to the door, then remove the two bolts holding the crank portion to the door.
9) Carefully lower the window and pull it out through the large opening in the door bottom. You will have to hold the bottom rail of the regulator support away from the glass…be very careful not to scratch the glass as you do this. You should wrap a rag around it to protect the glass. I didn’t in this photo but wrapped it later when I reinstalled the glass. If you skipped step 8 go back and do it now.
10) That was the easy part! Now you have to remove the regulator. To do that you’ll need to move the vent window out of the way, since the bottom of the vent window pillar (the upright) extends down into the door and blocks the regulator from coming out. Using needle nose pliers, pry the felt channel away from the top of the door, just behind the upright. You’ll see a large Phillips screw. Remove it.
11) Remove the bolt holding the lower part of the vent window in place.
12) Carefully pry the top of the vent window toward the back of the car. The entire assembly should tilt backwards. The felt channel will try to block you, force it gently toward the inside of the car while pulling the window backwards and slightly outward. You can completely remove it if you like, but it’s not necessary. I pulled mine back this far and had plenty of clearance.
By the way, if your vent window turns too easily and closes itself while driving, you can tighten this bolt to tighten it up.
13) Now the regulator should come out fairly easily. Push the window crank into the door and wriggle it free. Here’s a closeup of the sliding portion. Basically, there’s a gear inside the window crank that grabs on to the spirals, which slide inside a circular channel up or down. Very simple.
14) There’s a crimped section at the bottom that stops the window movement when going down. I decided to completely remove the spiral slider and clean it up. Unbend the ends, crank the mechanism down, then pull it out the rest of the way. Here’s what you have.
15) I used brake cleaner and Q-tips to clean out the channel, it was quite filthy and full of crud. I cleaned the slider with brake cleaner and paper towels.
16) When dry, I applied large quantities of white lithium grease inside the channel and on the slider, then slid it back in. Using the window crank, I worked the mechanism back and forth, adding more lithium grease until I was satisfied. Fold the crimps back down.
17) There was very old foam surrounding the top of the regulator, probably to protect the glass from getting scratched. I used some self-sticking foam insulation tape that was lying around to replace the worn out pieces.
18) While the door panel is off, do some maintenance. Apply grease to other parts of the door mechanism (door lever, latch, locking knob, etc). Also, if your felt channels or scrapers are in bad shape, now would be the time to replace them. If the felt piece behind the door rod is missing, install one. Replace any broken or missing door panel clips, along with the rubber grommets on the door skin they pop into.
19) Time for more fun…reinstalling the regulator and glass. Start by shoving the regulator up into the door the way it came out. Line it up temporarily by putting the window crank mechanism into its hole in the door panel, then rest the very bottom of the regulator into its support. Now rotate the vent window back into position, making absolutely sure the top of the regulator is INSIDE the bottom of the vent window upright. You should be able to squeeze your hand or fingers up there to hold the regulator tight against the inner panel as you rotate the vent window back in place. From inside out, you’ll have the inner door panel, regulator, window upright, outer door panel. At this point you can put the screws back that hold in the vent window. Give it a good shove toward the front of the door and bolt it in. Check all the rubber and felt around the window channels and replace anything that popped out.
20) Push the window felt back in place at the top of the window.
21) Give the window a good cleaning! I wrapped a couple paper towels around the bottom of the regulator to protect the glass, and placed a thick towel on the ground just in case I dropped the glass (fortunately I didn’t).
22) Reinstalling the glass was a little tougher than getting it out but not too bad. Pull the bottom of the regulator away from the door and slide the glass up and around it and into the door. Be very careful, don’t let it snap back onto the glass! Once you get the glass in, slide it up through the scrapers, aligning the back edge in the felt channel at the back edge of the door. Make sure the window goes up and down freely (again, check the scrapers and felt for interference).
23) Lower the glass by hand so that its top edge is a few inches above the door frame. Crank the regulator up until the holes line up with the window channel, then loosely install the two bolts.
24) Lower the window a bit more. Now make sure the top of the regulator (the vertical part) fits into a recess in the inner door panel, to keep it away from the glass. You can access this fairly easily through the two oval slotted openings at the very top.
25) Making sure that top section is in the recess, loosely bolt in the screws holding the regulator to the door. I did the top center bolt first, then the two at the window crank. The bolt at the very bottom was about a half a hole off, I had to use an awl to line up the holes.
26) Crank the window up and down and check for free operation. Make adjustments as needed, then tighten all the bolts, including the two holding the window to the regulator. That’s it, you’re done! All that remains is to replace the plastic vapor barrier, then reinstall the door panel, door handle, door lever escutcheon, and window crank. Don’t forget to reinstall the large spring behind the window crank, wide side toward the inside of the car. Give the window another cleaning.
27) Enjoy your easy-to-crank up windows!
