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I reassembled the rh door on my 55 and I reused the original regulator.
It rolls the window up & down but it feels and sounds clunky as the window moves up & down. More so when rolling it up. The teeth on the gear look good but I don't know about the gear on the handle shaft.
Is this just they way they are ? Or should it roll up & down smoothly?
I want to keep the windows manual so if I buy new regulators, will they be smoother?
Last edited by avf100; Aug 19, 2019 at 07:31 AM.
Reason: spelling
My window regulators operated very jerky, even without glass installed. Turned out, the two short arms carrring the window channel were rusted solid. I worked them back and forth a while with constant supply of oil to loosen them up. They really need to be free because the long regulator arms move in a circular motion, but the glass only goes up and down.
For a lack of better words, I don't know if you can follow my thoughts. Look at it through the inspection cover, and it'll become obvious what I mean.
Lube the heck out of every moving part, of course. Mine are behaving pretty well, now.
Edit: I have a 49 F2, so exchange the two short arms with your T-shaped piece in my description, I suppose these joints can freeze in the same manner.
My window regulators operated very jerky, even without glass installed. Turned out, the two short arms carrring the window channel were rusted solid. I worked them back and forth a while with constant supply of oil to loosen them up. They really need to be free because the long regulator arms move in a circular motion, but the glass only goes up and down.
For a lack of better words, I don't know if you can follow my thoughts. Look at it through the inspection cover, and it'll become obvious what I mean.
Lube the heck out of every moving part, of course. Mine are behaving pretty well, now.
Edit: I have a 49 F2, so exchange the two short arms with your T-shaped piece in my description, I suppose these joints can freeze in the same manner.
Regulators should work smoothly. They did when new. Over time they will wear out and can become 'clunky' as you described. You can try cleaning and lubrication. It's certainly cheaper to try first before replacing. But the clunkiness typically comes from a worn gearbox rather than gummy pivot points. Whether or not you need to replace them will depend on how bad they are, if it's just annoying or if the window actually hangs up in its travels, and how much annoyance you're able to put up with. I personally don't have much experience with the modern reproductions to know their quality level or make a recommendation on that.
I dug out my LH side & it is the same. I lubed it up with white lithium & it didn't help.
I have my nephews 56 here & both sides are much better than mine.
I'm glad you asked. I have been thinking about this myself. The windows in my 54 roll up and down like a new car. I did not buy new regulators. I put in good used ones.
My 55 windows, however, do not roll up as easily. The driver's side rolls up decently but not as easy as the 54 windows. The passenger side takes more effort. And as you are leaning across the seat is difficult to do. It may be because I put new fuzzies in. I want to get some dry graphite to lube them. And my passenger wing vent glass is a bit large. So my division bar is over more. I need to get my belt sander out and scale it down to size. That may help. I will also try to lube the pivots.
I was working on mine today, The post were the handle attaches was saw off and I was gone to repair it. The post was made from pot metal and didn't weld well. I drilled out the rivets and found there is a coil spring that keep tension on the crank. Maybe that could be broken and cause the chunking?
Don52M3
With all new window rubber, the regulators have a hard time, too. Even more so a well used one. I sprayed the rubber with Silicone oil, where the glass is supposed to slide. It helped a lot, in fact the glass did not move at all before. A slight bend on the regulator arms when cranking was all I got.
Titus you are on the right track with the silicone spray. It's what I use on all window tracks.
I just wanted to let you all know about Regulator Roy. He has NOS and used regulators for American vehicles. He is the man. Just Google Regulator Roy. He's in New Jersey I believe. I got a reg for a 46 Ford convertible from him, NOS, one year only. My customers 46 custom deluxe convertible. Flathead V8, 3 on tree.
I ended up buying reproduction regulators from Mid- Fifty for $74 ea.
They look to be decent quality, the main body is a little thinner than the originals, but the rest looks to be the same.
Regulator Roy had some NOS regulators for $125 ea plus shipping. I just didn't want to spend that much, so I gambled and bought the repros.
They are better than my used ones but still a little clunky when rolling the windows up. Not so bad when rolling down.
I used a spray on dry lube on all the moving parts & gears. I have all new channels & anti-rattle strips. And used the nylon rollers. Which are a little smaller diameter than the original metal ones.
because of the smaller diameter they don't fit the channel like the originals.
So these will have to do. I probably should have went with power windows but I guess I'm just weird and wanted to keep the manual windows.
I
Maybe you could swap over the larger metal rollers to replace the smaller nylon ones?
That's a pretty good price he had on The regulators. I guess the one for my 46 convertible was a bit more rare @$400.
Last edited by Thunderkiss1965; Sep 3, 2019 at 09:54 AM.
Reason: Typo
[QUOTE=Thunderkiss1965;18832390]Maybe you could swap over the larger metal rollers to replace the smaller nylon ones?
That's a pretty good price he had on The regulators. I guess the one for my 46 convertible was a bit more rare @$400.[/QUOT
Its a good price considering they are NOS. I just didn't want to spend that much...Im being a cheap sob
