The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Windlace...Did I Get Lucky

Hey all,

Put new windlace in my 55.1 yesterday. Only took me an hour to do both doors. God bless Leatherman tools. I cut a small piece of windlace and ran it through the channels and when it was stuck I used a attachment on my leatherman to push the track out and it worked like a champ. The weatherstripping for the doors was more difficult than the windlace. As I said before I think I got lucky.

Later,
Chris

Chris,
Glad to hear this. I've always had an easy time replacing my windlace but so many others have struggled. Hopefully they will learn from your solid tip. The only possibly unique thing I did was to sprinkle baby powder on the channel side of the windlace to form as a dry lubricant. Slid real good.

I also agree that applying the door seal and making it stay real good is far more difficult, something I need to do in the future.

Congratulations, Chris.


I put new (refurbished) chrome vent windows in yesterday and had the same experience -- everything went in easy as pie!
See Here

What are the Leatherman tools you mentioned??? Do they have a web site?

Alan,

The Leatherman is a utility tool. It folds up and has the pliers with a number of other attachments. What really helped me was a short flat attachment. It worked great for popping out the crimps in the windlace track. The Leatherman is online,

http://www.leathermanstore.com/leatsup200mu.html

This is the supertool, it is the model I carry.

Later,
Chris

Alan,

Those new vent windows sure look good. Great job.

Thanks, Steve.

Bowtie Bits does a real good job, man! The only problem was those little spring clips that hold the handles in place. I tapped 'em in, turned the handle one way; they stayed in ... turn the handle the other way and they back themselves out!

I tapped 'em back in, put a small C-clamp over each end and worked the handle both directions a dozen times and that seemed to seat the pins in place pretty well. Looks like the driver side is popping back out again ... if it keeps up, I'm gonna try a little Loc-Tite on it.

Funny thing. I just had the same thing happen to me yesterday. I went to get in the truck yesterday evening to go for a drive (it was a sunny 78 degrees here ) and the vent handle was laying on the floor! I could not find the roll pin anywhere so I ended up bending a finishing nail to hold it in place until I can get another pin. Loctite sounds like a good plan once I find a replacement.

Call Bowtie Bits -- 1-888-838-6887 -- maybe they'll send you a few?