window motor repair how to

[88beast]

well i tackled this early this am. and i decided to explain it for anyone who didnt know how.

what you will need.

drill and drill bit (to drill access holes)
phillips #3
phillips #2
basic sockets and ratchets.
flat head screwdriver
door panel clip removal tool.


first remove the door panel.
to do this unscrew the door lock knob. then remove the screw in the door panel cup (place you put your hand to pull the door shut). use your special door panel clip tool to pop out all the clips. they will break i promise. but it may save some. then lift up on the door panel. this is the tricky part as you have to maneuver the door handle around and out of the hole in the panel. but you will get the hang of it. finally peal back the water shield (plastic sheet)

next locate the window motor.
there is a small 2x3 inch square hole in the metal frame. the window motor is a few inches below this hole. you will need to drill through the metal of the door to access the screws easily. the trick here is use a big bit. i used 1/2 inch but a bit bigger would be nicer. there are 3 bolts holding the motor to the regulator. they are at 11, 8, and 5 o clock positions. drill your holes here. this is where careful planning and a pilot hole will help.

remove the motor.
now you need to remove the motor. the motor is held in by 3 bolts/ screws. they have a #3 phillips head from the factory and this is the easiest way to get to them. careful not to drop the screws. this is very easy so if you do a magnetic pickup tool will help a lot. i just dropped them and cleaned up later by fishing them out of the door panel. once loose you can fish it out the hole right next to the motor.

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tear down the motor.
after the motor is removed you will need to take it apart. first you will need to remove the phillips screw holding the plate to the motor.

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one the cover is off you can see the pins, or in my case, lack there of.

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next use a 1/4 socket to remove the 2 long bolts holding the motor on. there is a worm gear that sits on the motor shaft and by removing the motor, you can freely spin the drive gear.

now remove the drive gear, torque gear, and washer.
here is them taken apart and laid out in order.

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next replace the pins. the simple way of doing this is to hold the pins to the upside down drive gear and slide the plastic torque gear over them. then flip everything over.

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then to reassemble just reverse the process.
i also picked up new door panel clips when i got the pins. this just made sense and its nice to have a firm solid door panel for a change. you will also want to take a look at the track in the middle of the bottom of the window pane. put the window 1/4 way down to see it. this track will need to be well greased, and the roller will need to move free. if it does not take it apart and re grease.

here are some pictures of the motor taken apart, but i would not do this unless you think the motor is not turning as it sucks to get the brushes back in.

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before taking this job on, my window went up really slow, if at all, and when it went down it just dropped. now it goes up like new without any problems or issues.

finally i got the door panel clips and roller pins from my work cjponyparts. but im sure lmc and such sell them too.

 

[icanfixall]

Many parts stores have them in the help section too. I have needed to replace my burned out motors a few times. Finally I found an easy way of removing them in wrecking yards. A pair of channel locks will tear the door panel metal enough to get at the 3 bolts to remove the motors. Its not like you just ruined the door for others. Your just tearing a slight amount of it to reach those bolts.

 

[chris142]

Mine had 2 small dimples where you need to drill the holes. I found great instructions on youtube.

 

[tbryanh]

Pins?

Are the pins plastic inserts that the red arrows point to in the retouched photo?

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[tbryanh]

My passenger window was sticking as it was going up and down, The passenger had to push on the glass to help the window go up and down.

I wound up pulling the lever out with the motor still attached to the bracket. A dremel with a cutting disk worked good for shaving the heads off the rivets that held the assembly to the door.

The lever was binding on the bracket from heavy rust build up between the lever and bracket near the center shaft. The spring had heavy rust build up that created friction between the turns of the spring.

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[tbryanh]

I went to Autozone and O'rielly's. Neither one had the pins. Autozone had the complete motor assembly for about $50.00. It was after market and looked like junk. I turned it down. O'rielly's had the gear assembly for about $20.00. Looked good. Bought that.

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[whiteboyslo]

Rockauto.com has the motor and regulator assembly for $67, or the motor itself for mid-30s. Amazon is even cheaper.

I find the easiest way to get at the motor is to take out the regulator, then unbolt the motor from it. As for getting the rivets out, a good smack with a hammer will often knock the pin out from the center (or use a punch), then drill out the body. Sometimes the back of the rivet will spin inside the door, but you can get in there with a screwdriver or something and hold it in place.

Mike

 

[tbiagent69]

Do you guys have a part number for the pins, or can you tell me what the name of the part is?

I'm hoping to tackle this job in the near future. Also, would anyone have a picture of the door panel where I should drill?

I took the panel off a couple weeks ago, right before this thread was posted. Thanks for this post, it revived my interest in fixing the door.

 

[tbryanh]

Check this other thread.

http://www.oilburners.net/forums/sh...passenger-side-window-motors&highlight=window

The poster says he has to keep changing the motor because the passenger keeps bumping the window switch. I think maybe the problem is he didn't clean up the rusty lever and spring. If you knew how rusty and bound up my lever was, you would know that servicing the motor is only half the job.

 

[tbryanh]

I reinstalled the motor/lever assembly using 1/4" carriage bolts instead of rivets. When tightening the carriage bolts, the head of the bolts converts the round holes in the bracket to square holes. (You might sacrifice a few carriage bolts in the process.) The extra lengths of the carriage bolts protruding through the nuts will be trimmed off with the cutting disk on the dremel tool.

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[tbryanh]

Rather than replace the plastic sheet that prevents drafts, I chose to use sheet metal instead.

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[tbryanh]

Some of the panel clips were missing or broken. Rather than trying to track these down, I chose to use sheet metal screws and washers instead. Cosmetically this might not be the best approach, but its ok for me, and it is secure.

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[tbryanh]

O'rielly's has a rebuilt factory original motor/gear assembly for about $70