The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Doors 1950 window installation

I am finally putting my doors back together with new rubber and channels.

I have the outside rubber wiper in place and the channel basically in place but when I try to install the window it is too tight in the channel to move up to allow installation of the screws that retain the window to the track.

Is there a process to install the channel such that it does not bind the glass? I suspect that I need the channel to be tighter to the door frame but not sure how to do that given its location inside the door.

I don't think it matters but at the moment I do not have the inside door trim installed with its wiper (also new).

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

When I installed the channel's in my 36 I made some 1/4" thick wooden squares to use a clamp of some kind to press the seal in tight. I let it set overnight and then did another section, Took 4 days to get all the way around door but the window ran up and down in the channel very nicely.

I made a form from piece of 1/4” plywood for the rounded corner (just a little bigger than the radius of the corner), using the glass as a template. This enabled me to use a hammer (on the form) to help form the corner. After the installation, running the window up and down, finished seating the channel and it was easy to operate the window.

Thank you for the insight, I thought perhaps I need to hammer the channel into place better but appreciate the confirmation. Trying not to use the BFH approach on assembly in general but sometime persuasion is required.

My BFH was a 16oz ball peen and more of a tap-tap than beat it into submission.

Yeah, I guess I got carried away with my metaphore as the amount of force required should not be all that high.

I wonder if using a little liquid dish soap as a lubricant would help? The buddy that helped me install the rear window glass on my ‘46 used a bit of that to seat the gasket. It worked like a charm.

I was able to get the window tracks installed and tapped in as tight as I could get them given the space available inside the doors. I now have the windows installed and connected to the cross bar but they are both extremely tight and will not move up or down with only the window crank, manual assistance pulling up or pushing down on the glass is required at a minimum.

My perception is that they are tight fornt to back in the track in paricular at the top of the body of the door (below the window opening).

I have the inner door window trim and seals to be installed on them but have not done so yet as I suspect I may be taking them back apart.

Any thoughts or recommendation about next steps would be appreciated.

I used a 1/4" rod, cut into 2 4" pieces and weld them into a "T" and tapped it into the channel all the around to open the channel a little bit, Good luck

Thanks I will see if I can follow a similar path.

I have the glass installed and the inner window door trim in place. A combination of massaging the channels and some WD40 seemed to be the best way to get the glass moving although they are still tight and do not seem to want to go fully up. Getting the channel to form around the corner without kinking is a challenge.

I will probably work on this more during the winter months but for now moving on to other details needed to get in my first road test before winter sets in.

So I have made some progress but now have the driver's side window fully down and the crank mechanism seems to be bound up such that I can not get the window to move up (even with help from below inside the door). Is there something that may have shifted or be out of place causing the mechanism to lock up?

Any suggestions how to get the window moving up would be appreciated.

Check to see if your window channels are secured in the clips at the bottom ends on front and back tracks.
You'll need to take the lower metal door cover off and fish your arm in there and feel for the ends.

Thanks 52Carl, the panel is not in place so one less step. I'll report back on my findings.

The channel is in place and I was able to move the window up a few inches by removing the screws that hold the pivot (not the crank) to the door panel but the sector gear will not rotate in the correct direction to raise the window. It will move back and forth a small amount and probably would go further in the lower direction if the window did not stop it.

I am guess that there is something lodged in the sector gear that is preventing the crank gear from engaging the teeth required to move the window up.

I suspect I need to get the window out so that I can remove the crank mechanism but I can not determine a means to get the window retaining screws out without getting the window up. Any recommendations on how to proceeed would be appreciated.

If you can somehow pop the operator arm buttons out of the window track, you should be able to remove the glass. If it were a '51 or later, just removing the operator screws would allow it to pivot and let the window move, but with the double arm early window operator, that isn't going to work. Another option is to rip off the pinion shaft where the crank attaches, but I don't know if there's a big enough hole in the inner panel to get the pinion gear out. That would free up the sector gear.

What's lodged in the sector gear is probably a broken tooth from the pinion gear. If you're really lucky, you might be able to work it back and forth and get it out of the way.

[on edit] I see that early pinion gear repair kits are available, but not '51-55, which kind of tells me that it's a weak spot. The early regulators look complicated and fiddly.

Studying the picture I posted, maybe unbolting both the pivot arm AND the window crank part would free things up. I'm thinking you're going to have to remove and repair the regulator.

Thanks Kevin, the pinion gear is part of a repair kit that I installed and I installed new plastic rollers that engage the tracks so I suspect that I have "fixed" myself into a problem without an easy solution.

I agree that it is probably something caught int he pinion gear but it is impossible to see given the lack of access.

I have tried unbolting the window crank area but it can not move much due to the formed pocket in the door steel that it sits in. I do not beleive I unbolted both at the same time so I may try that. I also may try fishing a magnet into the pinion area to see if I can relocate what ever is caught in that area.

Okay, I finally wiggled, jiggled, and whatever the window up enough that I could remove the retaining screws, window, and then the window crank mechanism.

I removed the rivets and the pinion replacement that I had installed and everything looked okay. I forgot that there is an intermediate gear between the pinion and the sector and that seemed stuck but it is basically totaly hidden so you can not see how it engages the sector. After working it back anf forth I was able to get it free and while initially it wanted to "stick" at one end of the travel with some excercise it now seems okay.

I plan to excercise it some more and add some gease to try and preclude it sticking again. I need to source replacment rivets for the pinion retainer attachment but should be able to reassemble and move on to another area of my project.

Cruiser, I’ve been casually following this post. I had just the opposite problem w my windows. ( btw, my cab is a verified 1950 cab, although I have my truck titled as a 48…long story there). Anyway, my windows would roll down by themselves, wouldn’t stay up. This was 10+years ago, and after some research found a tension coil spring type item inside the regulator had broken: the little 90degree end of the coil wore off/broke. Anyway, I rebuilt both regulators and used machine screws and nylocs to hold the housings together. You can see them in the attached picture, and I’ve include a pic of the offending coil spring….back then that spring was like $3.
Good luck, Regards, Dave

Glad you were able to get things back apart.
A bath in some solvent may be advised for the regulator, as dried grease in the intermediate gear may have been the issue.

Check the stamped metal hole where the crank stem comes through. That hole extrudes outwards to form somewhat of a bearing surface for the crank stem to ride on. It gets wallered out over time, but I have been able to mash that extruded portion back to specs.
Gears don't like wobbly cranks.

Thanks for all of the additional input.

I like the idea of using machine screws rather than rivets to hold the pieces together but the screw heads need to be pretty thin as they must pass under the sector gear retainer.

I think the repair kit for the crank stem included a new stamping so there is no wear but I will check the clearance. Unfortnately new doesn't mean good.

There is a small stepped bushing on the back side of the pinion gear that originally was pressed in place with a serrated diameter to engage the housing. The hole is now oversize so the serration doesn't engage. There is a wear pattern in the face of the bushing from the intermediate gear that has created a step that the gear can catch. It may be a result of working with the parts that are loose vs. fully assembled but I am going to try and make it as secure and reliable as possible before reinstalling.

Further insepction of the crank stem repair kit parts determined that the spring that engages the internal parts connecting the stem with the gear appears to have a broken end. I tapped the housing to make the bushing hole smaller so the serration would engage better and filed down the step to prevent the intermediate gear from catching. It wasn't great bit appeared to work until I started putting rivets in place to hold everything together. The retainer is not aligning with the housing well putting pressure on the stem and after 2 of the 4 rivets were installed the system would not function again.

Long story short I am going to give up on trying to repair the mechanism and order a replacement.

Received and installed the new window regulator mechanism and window. This thread can be closed out.

Glad to hear of your success! Thanks for coming back and letting us know. On to other getting the truck ready to roll stuff!