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Date:         Tue, 27 Feb 2007 08:29:42 -0800
Reply-To:     dylan friedman <insyncro@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         dylan friedman <insyncro@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: power window regulators
Comments: To: Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

I too have used rivets to fix the plastic cable holder. I have upgraded all my regulators with rivets. No problems since. dylan ----- Original Message ---- From: Jim Felder <felder@KNOLOGY.NET> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 11:13:36 AM Subject: Re: power window regulators Where and how the mechanism is broken determines what you can or can't do to fix it. Both of my front door mechanisms have broken the bottom cable guide rivet which holds the guide to the vertical bar with the lifting bracket on it. If this has happened to you, it will be obvious when you look at the foot of the vertical piece once it's out of the car. If there's flopping cable and no plastic piece on the bottom, you need to reattach it. Both of mine have both been replaced with pop- rivets or small screws, one being done ten years ago and the other being done last week. This kind of problem is, I think, the most common as I know other people have done it. I would not buy a new mechanism for a repair that can be done, start to finish, in about half an hour if you have the pop rivets on hand and you've done the removal and installation of the mechanism enough times to be quick about it. If you know what you are doing, the motor and cable assembly will come out in less than ten minutes. If anyone needs the details, write me while it's fresh in my mind. My repair involves clamping the slider rail to a table so both hands can pull the plastic foot to lock into its notch in the metal. Once in place it can be held in place with one had while the other hand clamps it with a small vice-grip pliers. Then a pop rivet can be put into the hole where the old rivet failed. This pop rivet can't be too long or it hits the bracket, and can't be too short or it won't work. I think these are 1/8" pop rivets. Another way is to get a small nut behind the bracket and put a screw in from the front. This is probably a better repair than the pop rivet as it will never give up. The other problem I've had, failure from rusty and collapsed metal tubes that house the cables, you can do nothing about. If this has happened, order the new assembly. And while you're at it, order new window scraper rubber. If you're getting water into the door when it rains as a result of deteriorated rubber, you're wasting your money buying a new assembly anyway as another failure is getting closer with every rain. Jim On Feb 26, 2007, at 9:43 PM, Kim Brennan wrote: > Replacing the power window regulators is not too bad a job. The door > doesn't need to come off. Only the door panel. You've already done > that once, so you're halfway there. The procedure is documented in > the Bentley manual. There are a lot of little things to deal with > (bolts here, tie wraps there) so it best to read the stuff over in > the Bentley. > > I'd suggest getting the existing one out and examining it. It might > be possible to repair. There is no "tensioning" involved as the unit > is complete unto itself. > > When mine broke, I ordered replacement, installed it, and then fixed > the "broken" one as a spare for the next time. Then again, I've got 4 > vanagons, so the next time for me is likely to be a lot sooner than 1 > vanagon owners.... >


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