Date:         Fri, 8 Jul 2011 15:15:36 -0700
Reply-To:     Roland <syncronicity1@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Roland <syncronicity1@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: reattach power window regulator bottom guide piece
In-Reply-To:  <CAMr2bWK78aVAjKjnwVD45aTz_iKOg1PZSbUxN4vjKbnQhRkZ-Q@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hi Greg,

I had to rebuild the passenger side regulator about a year ago.  I used a
really short screw / bolt with the nut on the inside in that tight area.  I
found a really short, narrow nut.  I slid the nut in that tight spot, and
then the screw from the outside.  I recall it was quite a hunt to find the
right one, but then I have years of collected old screws and nuts from
various things, a junk pile I had to search.  I may have cut the screw
shorter, for an exact fit (hacksaw), can't recall exactly. You might have to
try Home Depot or something, but I can't say if they would have short /
narrow nuts and can be slid into that tight area.  Worst case grind some
metal off of a nut so that it is shorter and will squeeze in that tight
spot.   So effectively the length of the screw is the depth of the metal on
the regulator plus the depth of the nut.  The screw length has to be quite
exact, not to short and not too long.  And then used thread locker to make
sure it stays. Sorry, no pics, my mistake.

The other trick I'll pass on is related to rewinding the cable around the
white plastic drum inside the mechanism after the black plastic guides are
fully mounted.  The problem was I couldn't remount the black plastic pieces
because there was too much cable tension and the black guides wouldn't fully
seat without removing the drum first to create some slack (I think the
windings were messed up anyway).  So I found that the cable was too short!
Actually what happened is that while broken, of course being dummies, we
tried the window several times because we thought it would self-fix itself
:).  This ended up hosing the windings around the drum, and creating kinks
in the cable which effectively shortened its length, and therefore the drum
with the windings wouldn't squeeze back into the housing, even with 2 people
compressing the springs.  The solution was to remove a bit of the cable
sheath, maybe 1/4 of an inch or so, maybe a half inch.  I used a dremel tool
with a cutoff wheel, very, very carefully, to make sure to not cut the cable
itself.  This shortened the path that the cable has to follow, which
provided enough clearance to get that stupid drum to mount correctly once
again.  Not sure if you'll have this problem, but wanted to pass it on in
case.

Roland

On Fri, Jul 8, 2011 at 4:24 AM, Greg S <sorkilmo@gmail.com> wrote:

> I wonder what others have done when reattaching the bottom plastic guide
> piece on the power window regulator. There is very little space between the
> welded on nut thing that holds the regulator to the bottom of the door and
> the vertical piece of the regulator. It doesn't seem like I can get a bolt
> in there or a nut on a bolt or even a pop rivet.
>
> https://picasaweb.google.com/sorkilmo/PowerWindowMotorAndRegulator#5626938208892754162
>
>
> https://picasaweb.google.com/sorkilmo/PowerWindowMotorAndRegulator#5626938197284147266
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks,
> Greg S.
> 87' Tintop
> Ottawa ON
>