I found this part in bottom of my door

Paul Crowther · 02-07-2017, 03:23 PM

I took apart door of my '87 cab to work on door handle and saw this laying in bottom of door. Anyone recognize it?

TRE Cup · TRE Cup's Garage

sure. that is the retainer for the window regulator spring. The spring provides the tension to keep the window at whatever location , when you wind it up and down

Paul Crowther · 02-07-2017, 03:44 PM

TRE Cup,
I have power windows. Would I have that part?

TRE Cup · TRE Cup's Garage

yes, that center piece would be on the regulator. If your windows work equally well, left to right, then perhaps a prior repair had left the broken part inside the door shell

Paul Crowther · 02-07-2017, 03:56 PM

TRE Cup,
The window of the door in which this was found moves more slowly than the other door, but I expect that's due to a poor electrical connection somewhere?

msterling · msterling's Garage

Nope, it is slow because the helper spring has no tension. Do a search to see more details about this common problem. I have been dealing with slow windows on both sides because both of mine are broken. You can repair or replace the regulator but getting it out and back in is a chore.

TRE Cup · TRE Cup's Garage

or worn channel guides ?

msterling · msterling's Garage

That retainer is just swaged into the regulator. Mine just popped out....both of them. I should fix them. I think a shoulder bolt with a slot cut into it could be used to repair it.

Paul Crowther · 02-14-2017, 04:08 AM

So, back to the actual part......is this part, as it appears, broken or original size? What seem to be available replacement parts are apparently longer than mine, which is 15 mm top to bottom.

garment · garment's Garage

There really isn't a replacement. I used a bolt attached to a coupler but as a replacement. Getting the end of the spring in place was difficult but I did it eventually (expect painful fingers for a week if doing it by hand).

msterling · msterling's Garage

That is the whole part. It is damaged. It looks like the two sides are spread apart. The part WAS swaged into the arm and the flat end of the tension spring was held by the slot. Once it pops out of the arm it can't be swaged or peened back in. I don't think that part can be re-used and is not available separately. You can live with a slow window which may eventually kill the motor or you can replace the whole regulator. Some have improvised a replacement part with a threaded end that can be held to the arm with a nut.

Alex599 · Alex599's Garage

Paul, I ran into the same problem as you did last week. I was removing my regulator when the pin popped out. You can not order the pin only, you have to buy the whole regulator. The picture below illustrates how I fixed it.

The reason your window is slow has very little to do with the absence of that pin as the spring just lays on a nearby "bolt channel" in its absence. A good degreasing, cleaning (I used break clean) and re-lubing with lithium grease of the regulator made a world of difference for me. My windows now rocket up and down!

Alex599 · Alex599's Garage

I should also add that your pin is broken and will fail soon; no use in attempting to replace it.

msterling · msterling's Garage

This pic shows a pin that has popped out. The answer to the question in the pic is "Yes". You can see that the spring has lost about 1/3 of a turn of tension and the flat outer end is now against a mounting boss. I don't know if it always ends up like this when the pin breaks. You might have lost more or all spring tension which makes the window motor work harder to lift the window. Your broken pin is NOT the pin in the center of the spring which is steel. Yours is the softer metal pin which is a common point of failure.

KTL · 08-14-2017, 11:27 AM

Have to throw in my two cents and say thanks to the contributors to this thread. I saw the hunk of pot metal in the drain hole of my door last year and wondered what it was. Made a note on my to-do list that I eventually needed to take off the door panel and investigate the rogue piece of metal. Then one day I was browsing Pelican and stumbled across this thread. So I updated my to-do list to see if this thread was related to my rogue piece of metal in the door.

A few weeks ago I decided i'd take a look inside the door since I was into the door panel anyway, replacing the original Blaupunkt door speakers that were completely wasted- foam rubber almost completely gone. Ended up replacing the water barrier plastic too. By the way the Appbiz brand barriers are nicely cut and pre-located for panel holes and window switches. Only a few cuts needed by the installer and a great deal at only $11 for the pair.

Boy, taking out the window regulator is an absolute joy. And putting everything back together is pure heaven. I'd rather punch myself in the nuts than do that job again.......... Anyhow, just wanted to say thanks and share my thoughts.

Taking things apart is pretty easy and the Bentley manual gives a few nice tips in terms of where to position the window for removal and taping the window in place to hold it for you. But I will say they fail to prepare you for you what a struggle it can be to get the regulator out of the door and back in!!! Especially considering the difficulty it can be to "synchronize" the regulator with the window and the window motor installation inside the door. I ended up using a screwdriver to jam the regulator into a loaded state which would allow me to install the motor.

Thanks again to all who contributed. Helped me know in advance what I was going to be dealing with. Funny thing though in my case is that I didn't have any issues with the window going slow. Nonetheless I greased the wheel tracks and the linkage pivot points since I was already neck deep in this saga. Window moves up and down very well, but I can't say it's noticeably faster than the passenger side. I decided no way I was going to bother with the passenger side after the fun I had on the driver side!

Here's a picture of the replacement stud and nuts I used to recreate the missing anchor. One thing worth noting is that my spring is "wound up" way more than the other springs pictured in this thread- note how the outer winding is quite far away from the rest of the spring. I don't know why it's so loaded up because I only re-wound it the amount needed to return the leg of the spring back to where the lug is supposed to be. In other words, I didn't wind the spring any further than it was apparently originally positioned

DerkPerk · 08-14-2017, 11:36 AM

I too will need to add this to my "to do list". Comparing the 2 pictures, KTL it appears your spring is wound opposite of the above picture. Comments anyone?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

gomezoneill · gomezoneill's Garage

Hey Kevin It looks like the spring is resting wrong.Could it be upside down? The concave part of the spring should be resting on the post. I bet you can't wait to take it back apart.

pete3799 · pete3799's Garage

Yup....your spring is in upside down Kevin.

KTL · 08-14-2017, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gomezoneill

Hey Kevin It looks like the spring is resting wrong.Could it be upside down? The concave part of the spring should be resting on the post. I bet you can't wait to take it back apart.

Yep I hear what you're saying. Pretty sure I played with it a number of times, testing the orientation of the spring and flipping it over didn't work?

Meh we'll see what happens.

msterling · msterling's Garage

I think the spring is upside down and right-angle bend is on the right side of the stud but should bend the other way. Maximum tension should be when the window is down. Right and left regulators would be mirror images.