window regulator is posessed ??

[fitzwell]

69 f100 the regulator on the drivers side seems to have a mind of it's own. sometimes it works fine, others it takes an act of God to get the window down. Last night it did something new...window goes down fine, now takes 3 strong men to get it to roll up. Don't want to force it, so i left it down for the night...no chance of rain Any clues, ideas, whatever. Are these rebushable/rebuildable? I understand that disassembly of the door will be necessary, this is not a problem, just would like a heads up on what i am getting into

thanks,
mike

[spartman]

Check your tracks on the bottom of the window to make sure they are sliding properly.

You will have to open the door up, not a big deal.

If that checks out look at your window channel and see if there is something in the channel.

[qman]

And while you have the door panel off, take and lube all the moving parts including the coil spring. Assuming something isn't broken or worn out, that sucker will roll up and down like brand new. I used WD40 on one and grease on the other to see which would be better. So far both work great so I think I'd prefer the WD40. Less mess.

[jor]

I used WD40 on one and grease on the other to see which would be better.

IMO, the WD-40 won't last as it's not really a lubricant; it just seems like one on initial application. It's really a drying product. I would suggest you use white lithium instead.
jor

[qman]

The WD40 has lasted for 3 years now and my window regulator works like a champ. It probably rolls smoother than the day it came off the assembly line. And I believe it is a lubricant. It is made from oil. It's just a very light lubricant. Perfect for things like door springs.

[fitzwell]

thank you gentlemen.....one more thing added to the weekend project list

[fordman]

graphite is a better lube than wd40 or any kind of grease. Because oily products trap dust and dirt in and on them. graphite doesn't

[Clarko]

69 f100 the regulator on the drivers side seems to have a mind of it's own. sometimes it works fine, others it takes an act of God to get the window down. Last night it did something new...window goes down fine, now takes 3 strong men to get it to roll up. Don't want to force it, so i left it down for the night...no chance of rain Any clues, ideas, whatever. Are these rebushable/rebuildable? I understand that disassembly of the door will be necessary, this is not a problem, just would like a heads up on what i am getting into

thanks,
mike

Mine did the EXACT same thing but on the passenger side. I took the regulator out and greased the heck out of it and now it's easy as cake.

[fitzwell]

disassembled the door, cleaned the regulator, applied chain & cable lube to unit....works like a champ.
thanks for the input guys...

[spartman]

[foghorn]

Gman pb blaster is 10 times better than wd40 the wd40 stands for water dispersant 40 times its weight. Also its a proven fact it will evaporate or dry up. You have just got lucky on your use of it IMO.

[qman]

Gman pb blaster is 10 times better than wd40 the wd40 stands for water dispersant 40 times its weight. Also its a proven fact it will evaporate or dry up. You have just got lucky on your use of it IMO.

It's qman bro, not Gman, although Gspotman would be a cool name, hmmmmm. Anyway, luck had nothing to do with it. And I don't doubt PB Blaster is 10 times better. I have 3-4 lubricants in my garage that are also better. But 10 times better on one of these regulators is overkill. But it doesn't hurt and probably there's probably no added cost. The reason WD40 can displace water is because it is an oil and oil and water don't mix, thus you get displacement. PB Blaster is also probably a pretty good WDer. As an added bonus you get lubrication along with your displacement. Before fancy lubricants everyone used WD40 to lube things. Remember the days of black bicycle chains and gears. That was WD40, or car oil, both of which picked up all the dirt in the world and turned everything black. These days I typically use synthetic lubricants on my bicycle chains, moving gun parts, etc., etc., because they don't pick up dirt. One of the best things I've found is a can of Remington gun lube from Walmart. It's a synthetic that comes in a can and keeps everything clean which is real good for guns. But it also works on just about everything else. I would have used it on the regulator but I tried my WD40/grease experiment just for the hell of it figuring that if neither worked I could always do it again since it only takes a few minutes. I figured the grease would win the competition but the WD40 is doing a bang up job.

Also its a proven fact it will evaporate or dry up.

Every type of lubricant will dry up and blow away eventually. Including PB Blaster. That's why you have to re-do it every once in a while. Like maybe every 5-10 years on these windows. Look at all the things folks have posted in this thread and had success with. When you think about it, the regulator is a very simple mechanical item that is under no stress. We could all probably use crayon wax or cooking oil or lipstick to lubricate the regulator and it would probably roll great and last for years. I'm thinking the bottom line is, just lube it with anything, and when it starts to stick, do it again, and it probably doesn't matter what you choose, you will have made a good choice.

disassembled the door, cleaned the regulator, applied chain & cable lube to unit....works like a champ.
thanks for the input guys...

You're welcome fitz. I have this neighbor that is a welder and and a tinkerer. He taught me long ago how to maintain things with moving parts. Folks are always bringing him their supposed worn out and broken lawn mowers, rototillers, etc and he brings them back from dead. He'll run a quick engine flush through the lawnmower engine with mineral spirits and then new oil and a tune up and everything's good once again. It's amazing how far a little TLC, a cleaning, and a good lubrication will go. All of his things are always in perfect operating condition.

[71 LONG BED]

Gman pb blaster is 10 times better than wd40 the wd40 stands for water dispersant 40 times its weight. Also its a proven fact it will evaporate or dry up. You have just got lucky on your use of it IMO.

Water displacement 40th mix, not water dispersant 40 times its weight.

[qman]

That's right, I remember reading an article on WD40 and it was the 40th recipe that finally worked. Wasn't it developed to remove water from army jeep distributors or something like that?

WD40 stands for "Water Displacement perfected on the 40th try"

here's the facts: http://www.wd40.com/AboutUs/our_history.html

[Clarko]

That's right, I remember reading an article on WD40 and it was the 40th recipe that finally worked. Wasn't it developed to remove water from army jeep distributors or something like that?

WD40 stands for "Water Displacement perfected on the 40th try"

here's the facts: http://www.wd40.com/AboutUs/our_history.html

Yeah that's what I thought, too.