Does anyone know of a parts house that sells new aftermarket rollers for the slide door. My plastic or hard rubber coating on the lower roller has failed making it sound like a zipper opening and closing.

 

When I replaced the lower roller, I found a ball bearing replacement roller at a local hardware store (Ace) that has a huge section of Sharon Fasteners - the ones with all that oddball hardware you can't find anywhere else. While mine was a solid steel affair, I did notice recently they now carry a hard rubber(Nylon?) roller with a small ball bearing center that would work very well if the size is correct. There were different styles of lower rollers utilized on the Aerostar. Some have mounting pins that can be removed and others are a one piece rivet that must be drilled out and replaced with a similar sized bolt. Mine was the later and while it works fine, it was a lot work to replace. You may be better off finding a used one at the salvage yard or digging deep into the old back pocket for a new replacement.

 

Thanks for the info, I was going to check motion industries, what I did to is use some heavy heat shrink tubing and shrunk a couple of layers over the bearing. I don't know how long this will last, but it sounds better.
A lot of salvage yards probably don't realize that the roller had a hard rubber or nylon wraapped around it and I got one more wore out than mine.

 

Oh so thats why I have this same problem I thought the noise was from the ribbed track being knicked up and the roller jumping.

Well I'm gonna fix that now its been annoying me too will miss it since I know when to answer the door just have to listen for the zippppp .

 

bell47g2,
In lieu of heat shrink tubing, as a temporary repair, you can also use one of those plastic caps that go on the ends of wooden/steel chair legs to protect the floor. They come in different sizes and if memory serves, I think it was either a 7/8" or 1" size that worked. You can find a good assortment at the big box hardware stores.

 

I'll take a look at those caps and see how thick they are. Motion industries doesn't have a clue as to what I'm talking about so no luck there.
The advantage of the heat shrink is that it surrounds the roller as it shrinks thus keeping it on.

 

Do you think that a Wheel from a SkateBoard could be adapted to work?
Just a thought because the wheels on them practically last forever.

Jay

 

no because they are much larger they wouldn't clear the upper part of the channel it rides in. The van roller were talking about is only about 1 inch diameter.

 

Yes I know that they are bigger But.......Put a bolt through it. Hook it to a drill, and using a big file or something like it and run it down to the size you need it,
I have seen some small wheels that are used on the Skateboards.

Just an Idea

Jay

 

I finally bit the bullet and got the roller from Ford $19.97 the old roller lasted 7 years so I hope this one does the same.

Just out of curiosity do the bearings go on the roller and that causes the zip or is there an outer coating on the roller that wears away??

 

The rubber or nylon on the outside of the roller wears away exposing serrations which cause the zip until the serrations wear down and in the mean time the coating in the channel.

 

Also does anyone no of a good cheap source for rear bumper.

 

Ok thanks for the info I ordered the roller and that should fix it then .

Also to answer the persons question above Fordparts.com sells all Ford parts including body parts their not cheap in some circumstances but if your in a pinch check them out .

 

mine has the same problem....ugh

 

Well for all you curious about replacing your roller its a minor pain (like most work on the Aerostar ) but I'll take you through it all the way from knowing if your roller is worn with the pictures I provided and removing the old roller off the assembly (the minor pain) and pounding the new one on.

First if you have the common zipping sound when you open or shut your side sliding door then odds are the rubber or hardened plastic that wraps around your lower roller has worn away and the ribbed serations in the wheel are hopping inside and outside of the serrations in the track when you move your door and that is creating the zipping sound.

Now what does a worn roller look like you ask look below at the picture of mine you'll notice the rubber is completely worn off and compare it to the new roller I ordered pictured below this picture.



If your roller still has some rubber on the sides and none or very little on the bottom it also has to be replaced.

Here is a picture of the new roller I got from Ford for $19.50 I ordered it from Fordparts.com and got it shipped to me but you can go to your local Ford dealer and have them order it.



As you can see there is a drastic difference between my old one and new one I had to break the roller off my old one in order to remove it but I pieced it together for the picture.

Now lets disassemble the lower roller assembly and get dirty first open your sliding door get your ratchet out and loosen and remove the 3 bolts that mount the bottom hinge to the door now hold up the bottom half of the door and pull the hinge assembly away from the door and near you just let the door gently rest on the body and don't move the door without lifting it from the bottom unless you want to scratch some paint.

Once done mark the position of the only bolt at the bottom of the hinge facing up just run the pen or marker around the bolt we are doing this so we don't have to realign the door later once marked remove the bolt.

Now we will remove the top white roller this isn't the one you will be replacing but it must be removed to get the bottom hinge assembly out. After the bolt is removed simply lift the bracket that the white roller is on off the pin and bolt take it out and set it aside.

From here simply pull the metal lower hinge assembly out of the way now get a rag and wipe any mud, dust, or road grime out of the lower track you don't want your new roller to fail prematurely because of this also make it a habit to clean out this track often so your new roller has a long life. Now get to a table or a workbench the next part is a little pain.

Now the reason the roller is difficult to remove it because its pounded in to the bracket with a dowel similar how a carpenter joins pieces of wood except here of course theres no glue just loads of rust .

The first thing I did to my old roller is snapped the roller itself in half to make things easier. I did this using a claw hammer and brute force but a hacksaw or any type of splitter tool would work as well.

Once the roller is off heres what I did after the blow torch and penetrating oil failed I put the hinge on a vice and took a vice grip and clamped it to the dowel shaft I pushed the handle of the vice grip against the metal hinge itself and struck the vice grip with a hammer this pivoting motion caused the vice grips jaws to exert pulling force on the dowel each time it was struck and after a couple of tries and reclamping the dowel to get the right amount of grip on it. It finally popped free.

Now I'm sure if you had a hammer with a large enough claw to get this thing that would work too or if you drilled a hole from the other side of the hinge to the dowel and took a center punch or similar tool and hammered it out from the opposite side that would work which I believe Ford should have done to make it easier but I can't think of many other ways to accomplish this if you have another way post here .

Anyways now that that pain is finally off wipe down the hinge if it has dirt or mud on it and we are ready to install the new roller.

Now get your mallet out NOT HAMMER place the dowel end of the roller in the hole and make sure its pretty straight now strike it with your mallet with as much force as you can to get it in place since if you strike too hard your mallet with deform and not your roller thats the idea of using the mallet keep pounding until the washer on the back of the roller comes flush with the hinge bracket. Don't worry if the roller looks a little crooked when you start when you pound it in to the bottom it will straighten itself out.

Whew now that wasn't really so bad but I could have been easier .

Okay pick up the white roller bracket and hold it in place at the top of the bottom track now get the hinge assembly put the bolt for the upper roller in it and push the hinge with your new roller into the bottom track and slide the top roller bracket in to meet the bottom hinge. Now this top roller allows adjustment from front to back I hope you marked the location of the bolt or you'll be doing alignment work anyways install the bolt and tighten it in the same place it was before.

The final step lift the bottom of the door back and slide the hinge to meet the bottom of the sliding door and align the 3 bolt holes put in the bolts by hand first and tighten them.

Test your non-zipping sliding door congrats your done .