My front windows are fair, and the back windows are really tough and noisy to roll up and down. Any tips on fixing that, some way to grease or spray the mechanicals to loosen things up? I dont really want to tear it all apart, hoping to at least make things usable at this point with it all in tact.
I just redid the rear regulators on my '56 2dr hardtop. John removed them during rust repair so that made it much easier. Probably the best way to get to the regulators & rollers is to remove the interior trim panels. You might find the nylon rollers are bad and need replacing. New ones are easy to find, cheap and not too hard to replace. But being rear windows they might just need to be cleaned up and re-lubed. I had to replace only one rear roller, the others were just gunked up. While you're in there hit the gears and teeth with some white grease too. I freed em up and they work like new. Ron
ok. I have the trim panels all removed right now, so thats easy enough. no seats are in the car either, I removed everything while putting down some sound proofing. So the white grease is all I need to clean them up (as is installed)?
Well white grease is what I used. There's probably other stuff but for something like these rollers that won't see light of day for a long time and are relatively protected from dirt,water or other contaminants, white grease or something similar would be best. It doesn't break down easily and stays put. Mine still had some residue on them, likely applied at the factoryd during production but it was dried up (after 54 years). I used brake cleaner to dissolve it along with a small brush, then blew them out with compressed air. I used an acid brush and put a liberal amount of white grease on the rollers, tracks, teeth and gear where the crank handle is. Since yours are still in the car you might want to use spray white grease or lube on the back side of the rollers and mechanism if you can't see or reach them with the brush from the exposed side, to ***ure they get covered.
Good advice from Ron. A couple other tips: Use a spray lubricant or Marvel Mystery Oil on all pivot points. This will seep into the pivot in a way that white lube will not. Be careful on sedan rear windows that sand, grit, etc. are not caught in the lower window channel. You can hear it - a gritty, scratchy sound - when you crank the window up and down. This will scratch the **** out of the gl*** if you don't remove it. With the window up and the upholstery panels removed, blow and brush the lower window channels free of all foreign matter. Leave them dry and clean so no additional grit is attracted by lube. Good luck!
Also spray some silicone lube in the fuzzy tracks which will preserve them and make the tracks have less drag,if you get any overspray on metal you intend to paint wipe down the overspray with brakekleen or 3M degreaser right away.
My windows did the same until I took them completly out and re-furbished them on the work bench. I replace all worn parts and lubed all pivot points and gears. Now they work as new with very little effort.
I really need to put new fuzzies in there. a friend was saying to buy long sticks of it from jcwhitney instead of buying the "special" fuzzies made for our cut. just cut to fit. anyone tried, no idea if its same width or not
I got mine from Obsolete Ford,good price and no cutting needed, our Fords have these little "nubbie" snap in clips that hold them in place and lines them up in the channel, universal ones won't have those and have to be glued in.The tricky part is even the custom ones come in straight lengths and you have to bend them to your windows contour and that can get ugly if you have never done it before.
I just mentioned on another post recently about Restoration Specialties (link: http://restorationspecialties.com/ ) they have the fuzzies/catwhiskers, all shapes & sizes, including for channels, etc. Their book is viewable online or you can download it. I got a couple of long sticks from them to re-do the &#@* flippers on my hardtop. Watch out for the shipping on the long pieces though, it's oversize and is kinda pricey. They might cut it down for you if you ask. I got the other pre-cut pieces for mine from either Mac's or Dennis Carpentar.
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