The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk vent windowed door reassembly

The felt and weatherstripping are pretty much shot on my '49 so I am going about replacing it all. Last time I had to pull the vent window assembly out though it took me four hours to somewhat get it back in, all while destroying the old felt and the window not rolling up properly. What is the secret to angling the assembly enough to get it in between the door panels, clearing the upper part of the door and feeding the window into the channel.

The factory assembly manual covers this pretty well. I did not think the 49 had a vent window assembly in the door. The first year that was installed was 51 unless I am mistaken.

just a tip, take a set of sawhorses lay a pc. of plywood a bit bigger than the door and place on top, I then used a worn out thick blanket to cover the plywood, lay the door down flat ..an with an xtra set of hands to keep the door form sliding around, makes this job is pretty easy and not so frustrating.

Is there some reason not to do it with the door in the truck? I'm going to be reassembling my doors sometime this decade and was just wondering... thinking it would be easier to hang an "empty" door and then assemble it on the truck.

SUBSCRIBING! :mad:

Woody,
On mine at least i found it easier to finangle things around with the door layin flat than it standin up and Gravity pullin all your pcs & parts to the bottem of the door.
havin the vent window loose, a pc of flat glass and the regulator all in there standin upright might be a hassle.
And with mine my regulators are heavy with the power window motor hangin on there.
Just seemed to work out better layin flat for me.
Tim

Tim,
Good to know... thank you!
Woody

I'm quite sure my doors are not original to the truck, but at this point in time it is a '49 with vented windows.

As far as reassembly, I was looking for some more specifics 'cause as I said, I fought and fought with those things last time and in the end, totally trashed the molding and felt that was there. I had the manual but it make it sound like they should go together like batta-bing, batta-boom.
Should the window be rolled down or up while reassembling?
I found that by inserting the assembly at an angle, I could clear get the window in the channel, but when I tried to straighten it, I'd hit the regulator. If I went in straight down, I cleared the regulator, but couldn't get the window in. And, in either case, getting the top of the assembly to clear the top of the window jam was a major pain in the bum.

Pull the door glass weatherstrip.The lower rear guide channel is removable. 2 screws on the lower part of the rear of the door and 1 screw up about 18inches or so near the top of the rolled down door glass. Remove it and the door glass will slide back far enough for the vent assembly to slip passed.

Vik,
heres how i did mine,
put the vent window in first, then while it is loose slide your glass in at the same time put your regulator in an get the roller in the window (up&down)channel (this is important)your back edge strip and felt should already be in there.
now i alighned an put the vent window in its place and started the bottem bolt that holds it,and slid the glass up into the rear channel push the glass to its full UP position, let the regulator float along,now you have the glass captured in both channels an in it is full UP position, tighten down the vent window at the bottem an get all your srews in around your vent window an get that part done.
Now your regulator is just settin there floatin, put your window crank on it an screw it it either up or down till the bolt holes for the regulator alighn with the mount holes put in the regulator mount screws an ya got it.
I know hands on is far from me tryin to give ya a tutorial ...but it is the best i can do.
GOOD LUCK ! let me know how it turns out
Tim

vik,look at the "doors" section here on the forum,just about anything you want to know.Al Horvath has a link to his web site complete with pictures.search vent windows.Great stuff

I really can't be this incompetent, but went ahead and changed the felt and molding and once again fought to get everything back together. Just when I thought I had succeeded, I went about trying to roll the window up and down. There is a ton of resistance trying to get it up (no comments please), and in dropping it, the vent side sticks and the window starts rolling down crooked. I'm so frustrated with these doors I'm thinking maybe I should leave them off and go Jeep style. Any have ideas on what woudl cause rolling the window up and down to be a problem. My thought is that the felt in the vent assembly channel is too tight.

My new felt is also very tight and I am hoping it loosens up with use and time. I removed the door glass to get the vent assembly into the door. I then left it loose and reinstalled the door glass. If you think it will help I can scan the appropriate pages of the manual.

Man, I feel your pain. Back in the 70s we used to spray silicone lubricant in those channels to loosen things up. You don't realize how tight those things can grip until you consider the amount of contact area they have on the glass.

This thread is scaring me...

I struggled getting my roll up window in place but it finally made it. I thought the bottom bolt on the vent strut was a real pain. I couldn't look and handle the bolt at the same time.

The tightness can be relieved with silicon spray and then over time it will loosen up.