VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1946-1948 Window Regulator Hardware

At the end of the arm on the door window regulators and the rear quarter window regulators, there are a couple "guide/insulating washers" that are about 3/4 to 7/8 inches in diameter. When you assemble the window sash channel/cam to the regulator, these washers kind of keep things from rattling around. What is everybody using to replace the old, rotted, falling apart ones?? Seems like I remember hearing someone talk about cutting them out of leather and stretching them over the end of the regulator arm. I have no idea what the originals are/were made of. I'll post a picture in Member's Photos just in case it's not real clear what part I'm talking about. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Hi Dale, I have a 41 that I have replaced the rollers for some of the windows. I ordered new ones from Chevy's of the 40's. They come with some kind of plastic roller and a new rivet to install them. If you decide to replace your rollers let me know I know how to install the rivet, so the job looks professional and rollers work great. You can do me a favor by telling me how you post pictures. Your picture convinced me I am talking about the same part you are asking about. Good luck, Mike

Mike, I'd sure like to know how you handle the rivet installation. I know the Advance Design trucks used a roller that is made from leather, I know the replacements are made from plastic. I know that Denny Graham has tooled up and made replacement ones out of leather using his shop lathe, and has the pictures on his photo bucket page. Don

Thanks Don, it was a Webshots album, but I have a new album now which is much easier to look at, NO COMMERCIALS or pop ups and the pictures are downloadable now.
I believe it is a popular misconception that the regulators have rollers in them, probably because of the plastic rollers and aluminum posts that the vendors are selling as a replacement. In actuality the rail just slid on two solid posts with leather washers on either side, which served as a guide/anti-rattle/lubricant wick. Since there aren’t rollers in the original regulators and the posts simply slide in the channel, once the grease dries out they wear, become loose and rattle. These parts were not meant to last for a half century or more and the original parts and lubricant were adequate for the projected life of the vehicle which was probably close to ten years at the time.
Here are a few pictures describing how I rebuilt the regulators in my 1950, 3600 truck.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/doors
The posts were turned on a Logan engine lathe from 1020 crs and the washers were made from leather belt blanks from Tandy Leather products using a set of punches also made on the lathe. The measurements were scaled off the original parts. During assembly the slides and leather washers are lubed with a liberal amount of white grease.
The window run channels and all anti-rattle strips were also replace during the rebuild with staples and clips as in the original factory installation
The windows operate very smoothly and have the feel of a new vehicle. I feel that the new replacements will last much longer than the original ones if the leather is kept greased every few years. I’ll report back in on this in 60 years and let you know how they held up compared to the original ones.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Hey I have an old Logan lathe belt drive wish I knew more on how to use it. I can make a lot of shavings.

Hi Don, & Dale,

The kit Chevy of the 40s sells for repairing the roller comes with a rivet that has the collapsable end hollowed out ($1.50 per roller and rivet). Install the part onto the regulator frame and put the piece into a good size vise. As you slowly tighten the vice the rivet spreads and forms a perfectly round finished edge. If one part of the edge is not flattening evenly with the rest then reclamp it on the vise with this edge only in the vise and squeeze it down until it is as flat as the other side then realign the rivet in the vise and squeeze the whole rivet until you are satisfied with its tightness.

You can do this with any rivet by drilling a hole in the end that you want to collapse. Make the hole as deep as you want the rivet to be collapsed, and use a large enough drill bit so as to leave about 1/16th of an inch of metal around the entire rivet edge. Then put it in a vise and collapse it until it is tight.

I guess if I were to list my top ten most useful tools a good vise would be one of them. Good luck, Mike

In the pictures, the butt ends of the replacement posts are of a Semi-Tubular rivet design. The ball bearing in the picture is being pressed into the hollow and it rolls the tube over and cinches the post in place, this is very similar to the way they were installed at the factory. As shown in the picture I used a bench press but you could use a vise as Mike pointed out. Whether you make your own or buy the plastic/aluminum replacements from a vendor, use the ball bearing to cinch the end of the post because it spreads the rivet butt end out and fills the hole making a very tight fit, which will not loosen up vs. just flattening the but end.
DG

All -

Thanks for the great input. I had about given up on anyone responding as I had about 50 views and no replys. Glad to see that someone else has tackled this problem and that there are some solutions out there. Thanks again.

Denny -

I just went and looked at the pictures on your link of the regulator rebuild. Thanks for the detailed photos of the process!! Makes it look like it might actually be possible for me to fix mine. :-)

Sure it is Dale, and if you have access to a lathe and can make a set of the posts you will be amazed at how smooth the original design was. I'd give you the dimensions for all of it but they were on my old computer and I haven't been able to find a copy of them. Don't know for sure but I would be willing to bet that the posts and leather washers were the same for the cars and the trucks for a good many years.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL