Rebuilding / resealing a driver door? New seals made the problem worse!

[78 GMC Jimmy]

'78 K5. Windows were hard to roll up. So I took the door apart and fiddled with it until it went up and down super easily.

So there pieces of rubber missing around the window, so I decided to go all out and refurbish the door.

Greased everything, sprayed silicone spray lube on everything, put in all new door seals, rubber, felt, etc.

Now the door is SUPER harder to close - the window is almost impossible to roll up, and the damn window crank sounds like crap when rolling up the window - creaking and popping the whole way!

3 hours of labor and $75 in parts!

Why cant I get the window to roll up properly? How do I adjust the sliders? It either feels like I am about to break the window because its so hard to roll up, or if I adjust the tracks to be looser, the widow falls out of the track and becomes SUPER easy to rill up.

What are the procedures for this reverb?



Thanks.

 

[Wes Harden]

I roll the window all the way up, and either loosen the regulator screws, or finial tighten them. To let the reg settle in it's "spot". The front and rear window channels, roll the window down to the stop(the stop probably missing the rubber landing pad, so leave @1/4" gap) adjust the lower channels to be in the middle of their slots and the window has 1/16" of front to back play. This should get you where you need to be.

As for the door being hard to close, if you put new door weather striping on, yeah it'll be hard to close. Do your door strikers have the plastic on the shaft ? If not slice some 1/2" pex and force it on the striker this will help it close the first shot with firm close.

 

[78 GMC Jimmy]

I roll the window all the way up, and either loosen the regulator screws, or finial tighten them. To let the reg settle in it's "spot". The front and rear window channels, roll the window down to the stop(the stop probably missing the rubber landing pad, so leave @1/4" gap) adjust the lower channels to be in the middle of their slots and the window has 1/16" of front to back play. This should get you where you need to be.

As for the door being hard to close, if you put new door weather striping on, yeah it'll be hard to close. Do your door strikers have the plastic on the shaft ? If not slice some 1/2" pex and force it on the striker this will help it close the first shot with firm close.

Thanks man, I will try that stuff.

 

[78 GMC Jimmy]

I roll the window all the way up, and either loosen the regulator screws, or finial tighten them. To let the reg settle in it's "spot". The front and rear window channels, roll the window down to the stop(the stop probably missing the rubber landing pad, so leave @1/4" gap) adjust the lower channels to be in the middle of their slots and the window has 1/16" of front to back play. This should get you where you need to be.

As for the door being hard to close, if you put new door weather striping on, yeah it'll be hard to close. Do your door strikers have the plastic on the shaft ? If not slice some 1/2" pex and force it on the striker this will help it close the first shot with firm close.

Regulator screws? The only screws I have been messing with are the screws that hold the window channel in place (the one by the striker). What other screws do I loosen/tighten?

adjust the lower channels to be in the middle of their slots?

Can you send more details?

Thanks.

 

[rampage]

First, tell us where you got the seals/rubber/felt from and if you know the company who makes it. It’s not all the same and is a case of you get what you pay for.

As for making noise when you roll it up, check to see if the spring coil is rusty on the regulator. If so, then when you have it out by itself and operate it you can see the wraps of the spring catching and releasing when the noise happens. With the tension on the spring released as much as possible, (I think that would be in the up position) spread the coils apart with a flathead screwdriver and work some grease between the wraps. When I did that it helped, but I’m hoping that over time it’ll free up more.

Also, on the shaft there the handle goes you can squirt some oil on that side and also the rear of that shaft where it’s riveted to the regulator. Work it all in good.

 

[78 GMC Jimmy]

First, tell us where you got the seals/rubber/felt from and if you know the company who makes it. It’s not all the same and is a case of you get what you pay for.

As for making noise when you roll it up, check to see if the spring coil is rusty on the regulator. If so, then when you have it out by itself and operate it you can see the wraps of the spring catching and releasing when the noise happens. With the tension on the spring released as much as possible, (I think that would be in the up position) spread the coils apart with a flathead screwdriver and work some grease between the wraps. When I did that it helped, but I’m hoping that over time it’ll free up more.

Also, on the shaft there the handle goes you can squirt some oil on that side and also the rear of that shaft where it’s riveted to the regulator. Work it all in good.

Something needs to be adjusted, but I cant figure out what. The widow binds badly and comes off the track.

I did not see any springs in there, but there might be. I greased EVERYTHING really well, and that's what caused the noises. I think something to do with the window crank gears started making noise when lubed. Strange.


Here is the kit I bought:

Amazon.com

 

[rampage]

Just so we’re on the same page, this is a manual window, correct? If so then this might be easier to locate what I’m talking about.

 

[78 GMC Jimmy]

Just so we’re on the same page, this is a manual window, correct? If so then this might be easier to locate what I’m talking about.

View attachment 487646

Correct, hand crank.

 

[rampage]

Just an FYI, Amazon seals are not high quality and are likely your issue. I’d look into Soffseal or Precision made parts. I’m pretty sure 1AAuto sells Precision and you can get a discount with a CK5 membership.

 

[78 GMC Jimmy]

Just an FYI, Amazon seals are not high quality and are likely your issue. I’d look into Soffseal or Precision made parts. I’m pretty sure 1AAuto sells Precision and you can get a discount with a CK5 membership.

I thought that maybe the seals are the issue, as though they are too tight. But that doesnt seem to be the case. The widow can easily slide in and out of them by hand. I think the window is being tilted and wedged into the seal making it hard to move up and down. Most of the issues are when its from about 40 to 100 % of the way closed, thats where its hard to move the window with the crank. And if you go below about 40% the window falls out of the tracks. Then when it out of the front track, it rolls up VERY easily. Its something with the front track binding maybe?

Is there a step by step guide as to which bolts to loosen and when to tighten? How do I adjust the regulator and channels?

 

[78 GMC Jimmy]

The Chilton manual was no help at all.

 

[rampage]

The only adjustment is the one screw at the bottom-rear of the window channel. But that’ll only help when it’s in the lower position.

Have you tried seeing how the window fits when the regulator isn’t connected. Raise and lower it by hand and see where it binds.

 

[JoshHefnerX]

When I did mine, I got mine from 1AAuto and they've been cake to roll up down. Were difficult to get into place completely. Lots of windex as a 'lube'. Make sure all the seals are seated completely

 

[rampage]

The Chilton manual was no help at all.

Throw Chilton’s in the garbage now.

 

[78 GMC Jimmy]

The only adjustment is the one screw at the bottom-rear of the window channel. But that’ll only help when it’s in the lower position.

Have you tried seeing how the window fits when the regulator isn’t connected. Raise and lower it by hand and see where it binds.

Good ideal. I will try that.

 

[78 GMC Jimmy]

When I did mine, I got mine from 1AAuto and they've been cake to roll up down. Were difficult to get into place completely. Lots of windex as a 'lube'. Make sure all the seals are seated completely

I will double check. They seems to go in pretty easily.

 

[78 GMC Jimmy]

So I went and checked everything again. It seems like the front window channel is pinching the window. Not much, but when its multiplied across the whole length of the glass, its a lot of drag. This drag causes the widow to raise more in the back than the front, forcing the window into the channel even harder, causing even more drag. Maybe lube, if so what kind?? Or maybe cut one of the felt strips out of the channel slot to make more room??

 

[78 GMC Jimmy]

So I tried a ton of WD40 and some silicone grease in the channels. Help enough that the window is actually usable now, but still doesn't move very easily. Hopefully the seals will relax a little with time and heat cycles. I'm not doing the other door though! I just repaired the seals on the other side by adding new sections as needed as opposed to replacing everything. Also patched the tailgate seal and put a new tailgate window seal in, since the old one was toast. Patched several spots on the tailgate that would allow airflow. I have an issue with exhaust entering the cab from the back of the rig, so I'm trying to seal it up as best I can.

 

[Wes Harden]

how did you replace the window channel felt if you didn't remove the glass, in order to remove the glass the regulator needs to be unbolted. The window channel felts need to go all the way to the bottom of the guides way down in the door.

 

[78 GMC Jimmy]

how did you replace the window channel felt if you didn't remove the glass, in order to remove the glass the regulator needs to be unbolted. The window channel felts need to go all the way to the bottom of the guides way down in the door.

I removed the rear channel and installed the felt in that, and then loosely reinstalled the channel. Then installed the felt all the way around the top to where the next in-door channel would begin. Then I pushed the window back while pushing the end of the felt down that last remaining in-door channel, and then just worked it downward in the channel by reaching through the door access holes. It did not take very long to install. It did require moving the window up and down a few times. This was done without the inner and outer window strips in place, so the window could move from side to side in any direction easily.