The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Doors How do you install rubber sweepers?

I’m starting to work on my doors on the ‘47. For the seal at the bottom of the window opening: It looks like the cat whiskers are stapled to the window garnish molding for the inside of the glass. The outside of the glass has a rubber sweeper. How do you install the rubber sweeper? I read there is a channel in the door, does it get pushed in at one end of the channel, or does it pop into the channel in place? Does the reveal molding need to be removed?

I haven't installed the rubber seal yet, but I believe it slides into the channel. There's an opening in the center of the channel that I believe is used to install the seal, inserting each end from that opening. The seal will have to be bent in the middle to do that. The process will be much like installing the windlace on the 49 and later trucks that use a retaining channel (not like the earlier retainer that's screwed in place), and is shown in the service manual. Removing the reveal molding will give you more room to work, as it's going to be pretty tight even with the reveal molding removed.

If your 48 is like my (52 minus the vent window), as Kevin stated the rubber wiper on the outside slides in from the break in the center. However, it’s not easy. I helped it out a bit by slightly spreading the channel and lubricated it with soap. I didn’t want to use silicone to prevent issues later. It took a while to work it in but I did get it in. I was only able to slip the wiper in one side, so I hooked one side of the wiper under the channel and gently coaxed the other side in with a wide bladed screwdriver. Once it was in, I tapped the channel down to close it back up again.

The felt on the inside of the window was stapled from the factory. I saved the staples figuring I could reuse them, but could not drill new holes and get them aligned to re-install. I used some type of adhesive to glue the felt assemblies in place, but for the life of me , I can’t remember what I used. I used small clamps to keep the assembly in place while the adhesive dried.

The picture shows the channel the wiper is held in place with. You can see the opening in the channel to slip the

Thanks for the picture. The opening in the picture matches mine. I had some time and found the reveal molding is just pressed in place. There might be one screw at the top, I felt something on the driver side. I was working on the passenger side and no screw there. I’ll look for a hole. My doors are unhinged so I set the door on a stand. I picked the old scraper out for a half hour. The tab at the opening was in the same position as the rest of the channel, I bent it down. There is some kind of bracket towards the front of the channel, there’s not much access at the rear of the channel, but it looks like there might be in the picture I took. I might try to slide the wiper in from there, or try the opening. I was thinking it might be easier to open the channel and then bend it back around the sweeper once in place.

Another thing I read about the different profiles of the rubber. I ordered the kit from Steele, they sent Repops brand. It contains the cat whiskers, staples, and rubber scrapers with the T profile. The original scrapers have a Y profile.

I have some holes to fill and rust treatment and paint before reassembly. I’ll see how it goes then.

Steele sent a product made by another company? Was there some explanation why? I've been buying Steele products for various cars for 20 years and have never gotten anything that wasn't made by them.

I recall they contacted me before shipping that they do not make cat whiskers, but could supply them. I don't know if Steele makes the rubber scrapers, but there were scrapers with the cat whiskers kit.

Interesting. Thanks for satisfying my curiosity.

I tried to wire brush the channel, couldn’t get much access. I applied Ospho, rusty metal primer, and Dark Bronze Metallic. The channel for the rubber sweeper is not smooth like when new. I tried to push the rubber in from the opening. After about 2 seconds I gave up. I tried another approach. I placed one edge of the rubber in the channel and used a large flat blade screwdriver to push the other edge into the channel. I worked along the length of the channel one screwdriver width at a time. After all the rubber was in place I worked it again to adjust the angle. The rubber was tough enough to take the gouging without breaking. Before I started I laid the rubber along the channel, it looked short so I started short. At the end it was not short so I had to scrunch it back, that was no fun. I did this with the doors off the truck, but it could probably be done with the doors on the truck.

I am in the frustrating process of doing the same but on a 1940 truck. It will take a discussion to explain what I found so I suggest PM.


Mike