S/T Window Removal ?

[rcmorgan540]

Hello,
I attempted to remove the top window half from my doors a few days ago. I think I am missing something along the way. I am assuming the only thing that holds it in are the two bolts that have the speed nuts on them? I removed the nuts to find the top not budging an inch. I them removed the entire door panel to see if anything else was catching. I did not see anything. I don't think the windows have been off before. I then put some WD-40 around the bolts and tried to lightly tap them out with a dead blow. I did not wat to continue to pound this thing so I just gave up. Is it possible that this thing is rusted together inside? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Glenn_Guinto]

Casey,

They are tough to remove if they haven't been removed before. I went through this last month. Here's the trick.... Don't remove the doors, having the doors attached would give you more leverage. Along the bottom of the windows, there are three notches about a 1/4 of an inch. Find a big flat-head screw driver, wrap it around a piece of cloth and stick it in the notch. Start "jacking" the window up. This will give you the gap you need to stick something thicker in there and give you more leverage. Goodluck.

[rcmorgan540]

Thanks Glenn .. I will give that a try. I am just hoping they don't rattle like crazy when I put them back on.

[javelinadave]

That will work but you might chip your paint doing that. I used a big rubber mallet on the top of the window frame to free it up.
Your other option is to thread two nuts onto the stud about half way up very snug to each other. Then try to spin out the stud by wrenching only on one of the nuts. This will break the "rust seal" and the window tops should come off. Good luck, this one is a pain in the ass.....

[Glenn_Guinto]

I am just hoping they don't rattle like crazy when I put them back on.

They will... :grin


Although I heard people have had great success with replacing them with the Stainless Window Studs. When you get them off, you will find that the window studs have a plastic sleeve... don't get rid of them just yet, they act as a shim to minimize the rattle. Some people that bought the Stainless Window Studs just threw them away, some people re-used them. I guess it depends on the rattle. Goodluck!

[kiefffff]

I went through this same thing last summer. I had to pound on the bolts to loosen the seal that formed from years of non-removal by previous owner. Be careful when you pound, the door is aluminum. :)

I tossed the plastic sleeves. Makes removal and re-attaching much easier. The rattle isn't that bad.

Good luck!

[Cyborg]

The rattle on mine was terrible because the previous owner had discarded the plastic sleeves. I got some tubing that has a 1/2" inner diameter that I tapped onto the shafts of these screws tightly. With a touch of light grease on the tubes the windows drop in effortlessly and there is zero rattle. Much cheaper than using the SS screws. The type of tubing that I used is not something I am completely certain what to call it. I hear people referring to it as Teflon tubing or PFA. It is translucent and very stiff. It is the type that requires a flaring tool to flare the ends out when using with connectors in plumbing on some equipment I repair at work.
If you can find some of this tubing I suggest it highly. Great ,simple, cheap fix for the problem.

Larry

[mpodgorski]

trick that worked for me was to ise WD40 and a plastic putty knife. stick the WD40 red straw in between the rubber gasket on the bottoms of the window top and then stick the putty knife in and work it back and forth.
you need alot of patience, it took half a can to do both windows. afterwards most of the paint came off with the window so I had the doors linXed and never had the problem of the windows sticking to the doors :)

martin