| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Kraut | I know there have been a lot of posts on the subject of window regulators over the last few years. Many different approaches have been offered, so I'm going to add mine to the list. This is not to say that it is better than some of the others, I just used the stuff I had laying around the house to do the fix. The regulators were not broken, but I fixed them anyway. I hope this doesn't come back to bite me later. First off, making the repair on the regulators was the easy part. Getting them out of the doors and back in, was the hard part. 1. A picture of the regulator and where it breaks:
 2. I used semi-ridgid plastic water pipe split in one place for the inner support. This is to bring the outside diameter of the smaller tube to same diameter as the outside diameter of the elbow.
[img] http://www.prowleronline.com/ubb/image_uploads/III/innerpip.jpg[/img] 3. Take a pool cue tip of the right size (.520" ID), cut off the tip and split in one place.
 
4. Install hose clamps to hold everything together as shown.
 Pretty simple fix, and I think it adds a lot of strength to the vulnerable joint. Hope it works.
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| Kraut | Here's the picture that didn't come up: 
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| pumpkin | Thank you for the great pictures. And another thank you for the great idea on this fix. ------------------
 More 'Pumpkin' photos and Mod Stuff . . . . . . . Our other cars and stuff "I may have to grow older, but I do not have to grow up!" "The Prowler is not a car to go from Point A to Point B. The Prowler is the Point!" |
| catfish | for your info.it doesnt always break there.ive already tried this fix.it didnt work on mine. mine have broken many times in the middle.thanks anyway. ------------------
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| Kruisin Kat | If you look on the fourth picture down you will see the regulator tube is still broken about and inch and a half to the right of the clamps. Mine was broken in the middle between the motor and the 90. I posted my repair in another thread a couple days ago. Any ideas on repairs are helpful and welcome, that way the person doing the repair can choose the repair that they feel they can perform. |
| toys | Thanks for the post on new repair. Any new input on a repair always helpful & welcomed. Toys |
| 1buddyc | Kraut- What happens now if you want to Shoot Pool? (LOL) |
| catfish | i saw the crack,all im saying is the hose clamp repair at the end of the elbow doesnt work. ------------------
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| Kraut | Great feedback on this, but now I have a question. Catfish has made an interesting point. There is a break in the nylon tube to the right of the repair I made. See picture:
 This break is in exactly the same place on both my right and left door regulators. My assumption was that they are supposed to be this way. Now that Catfish has pointed out otherwise, my assumption may have been wrong. Does anybody know for sure? Looks like I may have to reinforce the entire length of the nylon tube. As for playing pool, I have plenty of those tips to go around.
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| TooHipCat | quote:
Originally posted by Kruisin Kat:
Any ideas on repairs are helpful and welcome, that way the person doing the repair can choose the repair that they feel they can perform.
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| catfish | broken,they can break anywhere between the elbow and the center where the motor attaches.where the arrow is, is the break.i tried the hose clamp method 5 years ago.doesnt hold.the break in the photo,inside the white plastic tube is a screw drive which must turn.cant when it has a clamp on it.epoxy and fiberglass cloth.is the fix. ------------------
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| Kraut | OK, comments noted. There are a couple of things I'm not sure I agree with though. 1. The spring cable inner slide which rides inside the nylon tube appears to slide back and forth, not rotate. The spring moves up in the track at the rear of the door, and down in the track at the front of the door simultaneously, and visa versa. The slides are inverted at front and rear, thus the two ends move up and down in unison. The motor simply pushes and pulls the spring cable from one end to the other. Now that I think about it, the break in the picture is not supposed to be there, and explains why the window does not go all the way up (about 1/2") at the rear, which is where the break is. I now feel really stupid, and will obviously have to go and do it all over again. will let you know how it turns out. Never the less, I'm glad I posted this, otherwise I would not have known the problem still exists. That is the advantage of having so many knowledgable and experienced people on this site. |
| catfish | the spring,is not really a spring,its what i will call the screw drive.it does rotate.the motor attaches,to the center and turns it,in turn the screw drive turns and pushes the guides on the ends of the reg.up and down.the rear is usually where it breaks,because going down is easy going back up is were the rear gets all the pressure when it has to reverse and push the window up. ------------------
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| Kraut | Catfish, I've redone the regulators again, but right this time, thanks to your input. I will post it again when I get the time with much better pictures and descriptions. You are still wrong about the spring cable rotating. It slides in the nylon tube without turning. My new pictures will show this, and how exactly it works.
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| 2000Cat | I don't know weather the inner part slids or rotates, it doesn't make much different. The outer housing is where the problem is. I have tried all the fixes, and a few of my own, only to have the regulator fail again, in a short time. I used a new one, reinforced the weak points with one of the super epoxies, and fiberglass, and hope it lasts longer, than fixing a broken one |
| Prowl 36 | I used Boiler Patch Repair. It comes in a putty form which has two parts. When you knead it together for about a minute the two parts which are different colors mix, and when it is all the same color you just compress it around the tube and let it harden.It heats up and will bond to just about anything. It only takes about 15 minutes to harden and it will never break and is extremely easy to work with. 
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| Kraut | Don't know if you guys saw my final fix, but here it is: http://www.prowleronline.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/002685.html I have only had this done for a couple of weeks now, and have operated the windows, maybe 50-60 times since then. I have extreme confidence that this fix is indeed a permanent fix. The windows work better now than they did when they were new. Solid up and down motion without any unusual noises, and they come to a full up position every time (top up or down - doors open or closed).  
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| catfish | 2000 cat,these fixes as we call them,are fixes nobody said they were permanent.the only permanent fix is to get rid of the white ppo tube, which is the main problem.these are meant to cost us less money so to speak where you fix it once or twice instead of buying a new one every time it breaks.i just
fixed one for a friend,not the hose clamp fix,his was broken in 2 places and will most likely break again in the future.always regrease the guides and tracks.the grease will dry out and cause a bind which will break it.------------------
This message has been edited by catfish on 06-15-2006 at 08:33 PM |
