The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Doors '56 door window seals replacement?

I'm the second generation to own this '56 step side. Dad double layered the verticle window felt and the glass barely goes up or down. I've got the assembly loose in the door but I think I've got two clutch head screws in the regulator channel holding everything in place. Is this correct, or is there more hardware to find? Also, how difficult is it to change out the wing window rubber at this time? I grew up in this truck and learned to drive in it as well. I've done all kinds of work on it but never got into the doors.

welcome to the garage beery - the disassembly of the door glass is in the manual, if you don't have one, well here ya go [section 1] .... the vent assembly has some very small short screws around the top hidden under the rubber, don't drop them .... the vent rubber isn't simple to change, but needs the unit out of the door to do properly

Bill

Bill, that is an awesome link. I'm gonna print it off my desktop 'puter. I have an old manual for the drive train but that's it. I was thinking of doing the wing seals as I hope to have the whole assembly out of the door. Hmm...I don't see anything on replacing the vent window seal. Or did I skim over that part?

Thanks,
Jay

the manual is handy for how to get the assemblies out of the door, once you've got them on the bench and the replacement seals at hand from one of the vendors, it'll be fairly straight forward - the pics about half way into my 'details' album linked below might help a bit .... with the vent seals you also need the rivets and rivet tool - all the window seal pieces are available, like from Jim Carters, or American Classic .... and you don't need to print a bunch of that manual, Keiths site is the info gold mine for we bolters, it'll be there a long time

Bill

Hooray! The windows are out of the drivers door. What a pain. I had to let the roll up window sit down in the door to get the wing window and channel out. How the heck do you get the wing window out of the frame? The rubber seal is also hard as a rock and not giving an inch. It looks like the original window guide channel had felt glued in and Dad pushed in another channel. Is that the correct repair?
Thanks for the help.
Jay

Update: I have an old local glass company that is willing to look at what I'm into with the vent window. The '55 manual linked above does not cover replacing the seal. I checked again. But the '54 manual calls for drilling our rivets to replace the vent window assembly. I orded all the parts last night so I guess I'll just wait and see what the mailman brings me.
Jay

what's available for the felt channel is a strip of felt that gets glued into the channel after the old stuff is cleaned out .... for the vent, the rivets that really need drilling off and replacing are the ones that hold the rubber on the division bar - see here, pics of old one being taken apart and one rebuilt - take the spring end apart [pay attention to the position of the odd pointy "washer"] and you should be able to carefully spread the frame to release the top pin from it's hole - tougher to get it back together .... the rivet setting anvil tool is usually included with the rivets .... probably be best to do the rivets for the vent rubber before replacing the felt over their heads

Bill

Ok, that's what I thought on removing the vent window. I don't see any other way to do it. Except for drilling out a couple rivets. It looks like the vent seal is all one piece. I gave it a half hearted try at prying out the window, but it's like doing surgery on a family member if you're not a doctor. This truck has been in the family almost as long as I have.

What is the odd looking washer for anyway? Is it a stop?
Jay

yes that washer is the stop, get it in backwards and the vent won't open the rubber around the top, front, bottom, wedges into a channel, the old hardened one will likely only come out a piece at a time, a softer new one isn't too tough to get in but it'll make the glass frame top pin a struggle to get back in place

Bill

I looked at what I ordered last Sunday, and the vent window rivet kit comes with 26 rivets. Sounds to me like they expect you to drill out a few frame rivets as well as the ones in the seal on the channel.

It's not the easiest job I've ever undertaken, but I almost have the one side done. You do have to take the whole vent window assy off the main channel. After removing the glass and frame I ripped out the old seal. The new one was a chore going back in, but I used an old rounded off blade screw driver and poked and proded the new seal in place. It needs to go back on before the new channel felt goes in. The rivets are a pain. A rivet bucking bar would have been nice, but I used a couple different punches locked in the vice to back up the rivet head. You must have a second pair of hands to hold the channel and vent window in possition while you bang away on the rivets. Reassembly looks like it must be done in the correct order as well. Main glass set back down into the door, vent and channel assy screwed in, then door frame felt channel in the door, and then remount the main glass up in the channels.

But first there's that one missing Easter egg in the house to be found!

Jay

I found the egg, but the door reassembly is driving me nuts! I cannot figure out how it all goes back in there. I scratched the heck out of my nice paint job on the window frame and the channel. Any tips out there? I had it all in the door, but I could not get the main window to slide into the front and rear channels. I've repainted everything and letting it dry. I'm now wondering if I need to put the rear main felt track in place, then the side felts along the door sides. Keep the upper part loose so you can fit the vent channel. Then put the main glass in the door all the way down and aft into the felt. Then install the vent assy and rotate it to pick up the main glass? Reading the manual, it says to put both parts in at the same time. I can't see how that would work. you need to tilt the vent assy to get it in the door.

turn the vent assembly so that bottom bracket fits in the door opening but hold it up while you put the main glass in the division bar channel, and then the whole thing slips in together as shown in the manual picture - after the vent is secured in place the bottom sash can be screwed to the winder assembly

the top and rear felt channel goes in after the vent and the main glass are fixed in place - form it correctly first, then after the glass is in, with the glass fully down slip it in between the glass and back of the opening until it bottoms and weasel the top into place [there should be some clips from the old channel to use that hold it up top] ..... the cat whiskers [inner and outer] go on last .... it's not easy and an extra pair of hands may help

Bill

Thanks Bill. Yes a few more hands will be needed for sure. The way it came apart, I though for sure it have to go back in a part at a time. I will have to tape off the door edges to protect the paint around the glass. As I said before, it looks like once both parts are in the door, the vent assy will have to tilt back so it will fit in the opening.

IT'S IN!!! Hooray!
But now I can't figure out how to get the rubber seal around the vent window to fold out over the outside of the door opening. I've tried it with the vent window screwed down tight and loose. Main window up tight and window down with vent leaned back. I'm afraid I'm gonna rip the rubber. I'm about to give up, do the other side to this point and take it to a body shop. Anybody have any hints or secrets?
Jay