The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk window glides

OK you gooroos of the stovebolts! Where can I find new or replaceable door glass glides(3 rollers the door glass raises up and down with)I think that's what they are called. I found them for '55 and newer but will they work on my '48? I know I will have to drill them out but there has to be another way other than buying new regulators , mine r fine just no rubber on the wheels.
Thanx! Mike

Mike I'm going to address this to a '50, but I think the '48 on up were the same.
There isn't any roller on the regulator. the window guides ride on the posts that are rivited to the arms and what you may think is rubber is in reality leather washers on each side of the guide. there are two different sized washers used on each post and they are lubed with lithium grease.
Take a look here, this should make it pretty clear: http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2924571610098611668SAUVbW
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2566710950098611668bcnMYR

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny, You are "THE MAN"!!!!!! It looks as though the "glides" are the steel rivets and the leather washers work as a oiler for the track and somewhat of a anti-rattler, but thats exactly what I need....WHERE can I purchase 12 of those leather washers or can I?
Thanx for the Reply and the help!
Mike

The simple answer is you can't Mike. This is where the restoration part of the game comes in to play. If you just want to fix it, there are several vendors that sell replacement "nylon" rollers on Aluminum studs. I suppose these would work ok. I chose to make my own "Steel" studs which are exact copies of the original ones. I spun them up on the lathe. They are riveted to the regulator the same as the originals. The leather I got from Tandy Leather, as you can see from the pictures I stamped out the centers with a stamp that I made in the lathe and stacked them on a mandrel then turned the OD to match the original set if leathers. And yes I believe they act exactly as the description in your reply, that is as a wick for the grease and anti-rattle.
And no I have no planes to start selling them, I’m rebuilding two sets and made some extras to rebuild a friends windows with. I had given some thought to having a run of them made up out of SS on a CNC but my access to a CNC dried up last year. The leathers I could have punched out at Chicago Rawhide if the run was big enough. That’s the problem, to make things like this practical from a financial stand point I would probably have to run a minimum of 10k and I don’t think I would live long enough to sell 10,000 sets.
After installation of the rebuilt regulators, window run channels, anti-rattle strip (aka cats whiskers) and rubber, the windows feel just as they did when new. They operate very smooth and have no rattles when up or down. The only tell tale sign that it is not new is about 10° play at the crank due to a little wear in the gearing.
If ya got any more questions about how I made the parts don’t hesitate to ask.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny, would you mind posting the diameter of the washers,and the thickness? I just redid the drivers door, and the original leather washers were so shot I couldn't get a measurment. I finally made washers out of nylon and used them. Also the stud on the window regulator in my 52 was just swaged on. I heated the stud and just center punched it out. After installing the washers I just swaged it back on to the arm, Jimmie.

You guys are better than me and have more boy toys(tools of the trade)than me so I guess I'll just buy them.... I wonder if rubber flat washers will work ? like thin smaller garden hose washers? Might have ti try that.
Thanx for the feedback!!!!!!!!!!!!!Mike

Be careful you don’t want to bend the regulator arms or it will bind on you. I drilled out most of the hollow rivet head before I tapped them out. To set the rivet head on the new studs I used a ball bearing that was a little larger than the inner diameter and gave it a little shot with the hydraulic bench press.
I wouldn’t use rubber for the washers because its not going to hold any lubricant and it could roll up and bind up the track. I was originally going to use Delrin but after a through autopsy I discovered that the "rolleres really werent rollers at all and that they were really leather. Wash your old ones real good and then look at them with an eye loupe and you will be able to see the grain.

The size of the leather washers is: http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2910723670098611668DIUeda
You probably won’t be able to make out the dimensions but they are .100" to .125” thick and the inner one is .375” x .875”, the outer one is .440” x .950”
A leather belt may supply you with the material that you need. If you don't have an old one you can probably find a blank at a craft store.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

try a shoe repair shop for the leather. I've followed these post with interest as I know my time will come. Its just that you guys are light years ahead of me!

Denny, thanks, and to all who had ideas for the leather. I used to do leather tooling for fun, and still have the tools, and scraps that I can use. Now all I have to do is find my calipers and something to make a punch out of. Jimmie.