Good morning all,

I've got two window problems I hope y'all can help with. The drivers side window only rolls up halfway. You can pull it the rest of the way up, but then it won't roll down unless you push it down until it stops. The gears seem to be in good shape, they are just mis- aligned at the upper extreme of travel. How can I adjust this?

The passenger side window slides forward and backward and no matter which bolts I tighten, I can't get it to stop. What's the problem here?

I've got a 77 Vette. The book I've bought doesn't go into any detail (Haynes) about window adjustment, so any help that y'all can offer would be greatly appreciated!


(EDIT) I've got power windows (EDIT)

|UPDATED|6/17/2003 9:19:29 AM|/UPDATED|

I don't have experience with power windows. I have cranks. I would look at the guides and the rollers for being dry or flat spots. Mine were dry and hard to crank up. I cleaned and lubed,( wd-40 /pb blaster) them. A lot of dirt collects in there. Tom

Contrail,
I know you say you reckon the gears are ok, but are you sure? I don't mean to question your "diagnosis" - after all, you can see them and i can't! But it just sounds like there's been a bit of gear stripping, from the fact that you can actually move the window up by hand. This shouldn't normally happen (no sh*t), since the regulator works on a worm and sector gear setup - you can move the sector gear by rotating the motor (i.e when you're operating the windows), but you can't do it backwards i.e rotate the motor by turning the sector. Unless, some teeth have stripped off the sector. If this is the case, when your window stops going up, its 'cos the sector has turned round to the point where the teeth have stripped. You then pull the window up by hand, but it won't come back down again, because you're in the area where there's no teeth. Pushing it back down rotates the sector gear back to where it' still got teeth, and everything works again...
I'm sorry if any of this insults your intelligence - it just seems to be the most likely reasoning to me. Try to get alook at the whole of the sector gear, to see if its still got all its teeth.
You can buy a replacement sector, that saves the expense of a whole new regulator, from Ecklers, and probably a whole bunch of other places.
It could be because one of the rollers has come of its runners, but i would ahve thought this would be a much less likely reason...
Good luck with it - these windows are a pain in the backside!
I've had my windows apart a few times, so I'll try to help you where i can..

Theo,

What you have described crossed my mind. So I checked by feel, but as we both well know, feeling ain't seeing. I can see the gears on the motor, so I know they aren't stripped, but the sector (or what I've been calling the fan gear) my very well be. How do you get that puppy outta there anyhow? Thanks for the response, and don't worry about insulting my intelligence, you didn't, you just confirmed another possible solution.

Well, I call it a "sector", because that's the kind of "engineer speak" term for that type of gear set, but it's probably got some other name in vettespeak!
Getting the regulator out isn't too hard, if you're patient. You undo the cover plate from the middle of the door (it has half a dozen little screws, and one of the motor mounting bolts in the middle). Then there's 1 or two more points where it's fastened. If you're taking out for the first time, they may be rivets that have to be drilled out, but if its been replaced before, it will most likely be screws. I think they're a bit fiddly to get at, specially doing back up.
Now its loose and hanging on its rollers. You should be able to peer inside the door and watch as you carefully push it forwards and backwards to roll the rollers out of the runners. If it won't play ball, you can try temporarily pluggin it back in and actually running the motor to get the regulator to take on a different "shape" and pull it free. Be really careful though, as you can see, it works like a pair of scissors, and could nicely take a finger off, (or worse still cut the wiring loom of your beloved vette - I'll let you decide which you thing is more important...!)
It definitely do-able though, I found plentiful cigarette breaks useful, but thats just my affliction!

The cigarette break thing is very do-able! Helps rid me of frustration. I still have all my fingers (so far...)! Thanks for the help, Theo!

No Probs!

After much trial and much error I have decided to let the local door and glass man take care of it. I think that the sector gear is the problem for sure. I had a hell of a time getting everything back in and aligned properly. I even had to get the wife to help me support the window while I realigned the regulator/motor assembly. Oh what fun it was!

Yep, Got to have been the most $hitty job i've had to do on that car...
Hope it works out!

Well, I've had a lovely day...

I ordered the sector gear from Mid America Vettes, got it in about two weeks ago. The local (and I use that term loosely) guy here said he could do the work for $35.00, I guess I shoulda been suspicious. I call after I get the part in, can't get the dude at all for like 5 days. Finally, I get him. Or his wife actually. She sets up the time, and I get there early, no dude. She contacts him and he says he can't get there. I've gone all the way out there, and he can't make it. She's all apologetic, and reschedules for Monday at 1:00 (today). So I get there on the dot at 1:00. No dude, no wife, nobody. So I hang in for 30 minutes. No dude, no wife, nobody. I drive the hour back home, drop in at the Chevy dealer, he wants to replace everything for $300.00, won't touch the gear, says he's never done anything like that, and refers me to a body shop. So over to the body shop we go. "We don't touch Vettes" they say. Do what!?! So back home again. Swear, throw stuff. Call the original dude. No apology, just wants to reschedule. And the price just went up to $100.00. Screw that! A new regulator from Bair's is $125.00. So now I'm gonna order that part (like I should have from the beginning) and do it myself. Sheesh!

On a positive note, Brian is a really cool guy. Said he'd throw in detailed instructions, so as soon as payday arrives, we gettin' a new reg'lator, y'all! The more I deal with shops around here, the more I learn to do myself. I guess that's a good thing, right? Rant over, thanks for listening!