The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Window regulators, possable to rebuild them?

Window regulators, are my next problem. In the doors of my 1950, 3604 I have the regulators out and the window rail rides on the two rollers. They look like some sort of fiber and are a little sloppy, so now would be the time to service them. Is there a kit or can these rollers even be replaced? The stud that the roller is on, is riveted to the arm. I’m already planning the replacement studs and how to make them on the lathe this week. Instead of swaging the end though, I’m going to thread it and use a jam nut on it. I’ll bet these are available somewhere but by the time I order them I can have the new ones made.
The windows would not roll up or down and when I got things apart, I found the window runner, guide channel at the back of the door pretty badly bent, twisted and spread apart to be most of the problem. I made a form .845” about 8” long to use as a dolly and reformed it the full length, looks a straight as new now.
Still got to find a stripper to get these doors done.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

here ya go:
http://www.classicparts.com/prodinfo.asp?number=18-773

Well after living with this project a few more week and getting out the micrometers, 10x loupe, and making up drawings to see how every thing actually fits, I have come to an interesting conclusion. So here is my dumb answer.
What we are calling “rollers” on the AD regulators, actually aren’t rollers at all! The reason I say this is that both the inner and outer are .100” thick leather. You can see the grain on the one side quite clearly at 10x. and they are flexible.
The dimension between the roll formed channel opening (at <.380”>) for the post (at .375”) is made with only a few thousands clearance. For an internal roller to work, what we have been calling “the roller” outside diameter would have to be quite precise to keep the post from scraping on the channel. The leather, “rollers” that are on these regulators are not ridged enough to serve this purpose.
I believe that the “leather rollers” are not rollers at all but actually wicks to carry a lubricant and that the posts that are hollow riveted to the regulator arm are in reality made to drive the channel up and down by sliding in the slot. Although in later years an actual roller may have been used, I believe that the early AD units were just simply a sliding action and not a roller action. This is a very difficult area to lubricate, requiring the removal of the handles and door panel and this is probably why most of them we see are in a worn out condition. Adding to the problem is that the driving member i.e. the post, being round, has a very small contact area and therefore would wear much sooner than a roller. And as has been pointed out many times before, GM did not make these trucks to last a lifetime.
What do ya think???
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I think ya got it!! and I think that by the Task Force series, GM got it too

Bill

Just a little up date on the “roller/post” project.
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2924571610098611668SAUVbW

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL