This has been done before by others. Here are my superior pics.

Your sliding door takes lots of effort to operate, the dash shows that it never closes well, and the door lock actuator stops responding. What to do?
Replace the lower bearing that is supporting the front edge of the door.

Long ago it was discovered by others that the common 1614 bearing has approximately the same bore and diameter as the Ford bearing. Whereas the Ford bearing, if available, might set you back more than $30, this common substitute can be had for less than $3. (Thank you, USA Bearings & Belts). The specs on the substitute are: 1-1/8 dia, 3/8 bore, 3/8 width.

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Support the door, unbolt the lower bracket.


My original diameter measured 1.030". Others have reported the disintegration and loss of the rubber tire, bringing the diameter down to a knarly 0.950"


Put the bracket in a vise. A chisel or screw driver quickly separates the tire and bearing cage from the inner race.


Grab the inner race with vise grips. Like others, I found that heating the bracket was useful.




Tap the pin out of the inner race.


Just checking. Yes, the pin has a diameter of 3/8".



Here is the one incompatibility. The width of the original inner race is 1/2" whereas our substitute bearing is only 3/8".


...therefore, add (corrosion resistant) washers to both sides to make up the difference. Note: make sure the washer bore is 3/8" to slide onto the thick part of the pin. This pic shows a galvanized washer that has the correct OD but the ID needs to come up a bit.

This pic also shows an example of a 1614-2RS bearing. Instead of a rubber tire, the Aero door will glide (very nicely) steel-on-steel. The -2RS suffix means that the cage and ***** is protected by a hard rubber seal. An alternate choice is the -ZZ suffix which gets you metal sides. The supplier recommends rubber for dirty environments and when heat is not a factor.


Use a thread locker and tap the pin thru the new bearing and into the bracket.


Clean any crap off the door track and install the bracket.
After installation, the door just glides across smoothly, using perhaps 1/3 the original effort. The dash shows the door closed, and the lock actuator now receives power to operate.

Old v. New


Its probably unnecessary and a bad idea to lube the new bearing, even if you could. However, you might hit the rear latch with some silicone.

 

Thanks for the excellent post. I've been really lucky and have not had to do this to any of my four Aerostars, but will print this up and save it for future reference.

 

Yes, thanks for the great post.

I was wondering if anybody has ever tried to replace the other rollers; at the top front and rear of the door? Do you have dimensions for those rollers?

 

Great write up. I have used silicone lube however, it is way too light weight, and it attracts dirt. You should skip straight to the good stuff, white lithium grease. Metal base lubes use a combination of heavy grease and sacrificial metal lubricants to provide superior corrosion and wear resistance. Lithium is a self lubricating metal. So when you coat hinges and stuff with it, you get a lube that stays where you put it. Silicone just runs off, but only after it attracts some dirt. You can get white lithium grease in a spray on, but the spray is lighter than the stuff that comes in a tube.

 

Thanks for the pictures, my wife was saying just yesterday that it was time to do this job on her Areo.

 

My top roller broke off and disappeared - I have no idea where it went. The door dropped down enough so I would have to lift up on the handle to open and close the door. I have not been able to find a replacement yet. So, I did a temporary redneck fix -until I can find the right parts. I found a short bolt with a fat round head and used a couple of washers to get the right height. I greased the heck out of the track so the door slides fairly easy.

 

Yup. See this post.