96 Ex Power Window Bushing Fix with Pics!

[CDW6212R]

Hey,
I'm bringing this post back because someone referred me to it for my passenger side window that was not operating. I utilized the original post and it worked great but I took it to the poster's next level and removed the armature for cleaning. He was right - there was to much chunk in there to make me comfortable for leaving it there.

Anyway, got a perplexing problem because I'm not electrically inclined. After wrestling with the brushes and springs for a while I finally got it done and the window operates beautifully except that up is down now and down is up?? From the switch on the armrest when I press the up button the window goes down and when I press the down button the window goes up. Obviously I missing something in putting back together an electric motor. It sure seems straight forward - remove armature from housing, clean, spring load your brushes and return armature. Any ideas?

I don't know what was changed in the motor, but the easiest way to switch that is to swap the two wires on the back of the switch. Check the other windows, and the right switch too(RF). The individual switch wires are relatively easy to remove and replace. Pull the windows fuse first though.

The wires go into the large connector on the back of the switch. It takes just a tiny screwdriver to get those terminals out.

 

[vett82ce]

Got this solved. the housing can be put on 180 degrees the other way. One way makes it reverse on the switches and the other way makes it turn correctly.

 

[Robert Nick]

I think you reversed the Brush Positon at the Commutator. DC Motors are designed to work in both directions. I think reversing the wire position that was previously mentioned is a better then taking everything apart to reverse the brushes.

 

[vett82ce]

I think you reversed the Brush Positon at the Commutator. DC Motors are designed to work in both directions. I think reversing the wire position that was previously mentioned is a better then taking everything apart to reverse the brushes.

No, actually the brushes can't be reversed. They won't reach from one side to the other. There's only one way of putting that thing back together and that's back the way it came apart with the exception of turning the cap 180 degrees.

I did notice when putting the cap on the wrong way (it worked but my switches were reversed) there was no magnetic pull down on the cap. But, when it is turned the correct way - the magnetization literally slams the cap down hard. It literally pulled from my hand onto the base.

 

[Wade99]

Free "bump" for a great post. I don't get the whole "drilling a hole to get at a bolt" because you sure don't have to do it in a Mustang. Both front windows of my 96 don't work. Well, the drivers side does go down with "help." The passenger side door switch wont even activate the motor, but I can from the drivers side.

Anyhoo, great comical write up and I will be doing this fix once again. Will say this tho: It sure is a booger getting the cap back on the motor with three new bushings. I cursed a bunch when I did my Mustang motors.

 

[Buster34]

power window problem

Hello,
would someone please explain what is being fixed on this thread. What is the Dorman part and how does this part relate to "no bushings". Where are the Dorman parts installed?
I love the humor, photos, etc, but I am missing what part was installed where to fix the problem.
thanks,

 

[96_sport_ct]

Hello,
would someone please explain what is being fixed on this thread. What is the Dorman part and how does this part relate to "no bushings". Where are the Dorman parts installed?
I love the humor, photos, etc, but I am missing what part was installed where to fix the problem.
thanks,

Buster-

with the ford explorer window motors the system is driven by the electric motor, which turns the center white gear. in the center of that gear the opening is triangular with 3 bushings. these bushings are what actually transfer the power of the big center white gear to a smaller triangular metal gear that sits in the center of the gearing. if you can, just follow this tutorial step by step and you will see exactly what parts need to be changed. if you look at my post earlier you can see the white gear and the bushings still in place and see that they are shaped like kidney beans. this shape made it so that my window didnt work at all. you can go to your local auto parts store and ask for "ford window motor bushings" and they should know what you are asking for. if not, then smack them and repeat the question until you get the proper response. hope this helps man.

 

[Buster34]

I think I've got it. The shoulder bone is connected to the elbow bone, elbow bone is connected to the wrist bone, and the wrist bone is connected to the finger bone.
Armature, screw drive, white plastic gear drive, bushings, metal 9 gear, window regulator assembly. and they all go round and round.
thanks for your patience.

 

[Buster34]

Slow power window

All,
Here is a report back on my repair of the passenger side front window using the procedure posed by Lunchboxx.
1. Disconnect the battery.
2. Remove the inside door panel
3. Remove the speaker
4. Remove the spash shield
5. Disconnect the door light
6. Bag the control console switches to prevent any metal filings from getting into the switches.
7. Drill the 1/2inch hold at the dimple in order to access bolt #3
8. Use a 3/16in nut driver to remove the 3 motor bolts
9. Disconnect the motor electrical
10. Remove the motor by pulling away from the door and then removing through the speaker hole
11. Move to the workbench (kitchen table)
12. Remove the T20 Torx screw from the motor gear housing
13. Carefully pry up the gear box cover and expose the gears.
14. Construct baseball backstop to catch the spring clip
15. Remove the spring clip from the gear axle
16. Pull off the metal 9 tooth gear and expose the 3 plugs aka bushings
17. Remove the 3 old plugs and any and all debris
18. Go to auto parts store and buy Dorman 74410 with 3 new plugs ($7.99+tax)
19. Install new plugs
20. Install metal 9 tooth gear
21. Install the spring clip--IMPORTANT
22. Install motor gearbox cover
23. Because of the exposed metal caused by the drilling of the new 1/2 inch hold I painted the edge of the hole to help prevent corrosion
24. Once the motor is reassembled, install everything else.
25. Only two problems to report:
First: I had some difficulty getting the top edge of the door panel to properly align into the slot before fully engaging the securing tabs. I ended up lowering the window so I could work from both sides of the window to properly align the panel.
Second: before I installed the door panel I checked that the window would go up and down from the driver's master console and from the local switch. The driver's console worked fine but the local switch at the passenger door would not work. I spent 30 minutes checking voltages on all the switch pins trying to figure out what was wrong. My wonderful wife, who came to assist by pushing buttons while I was checking voltages, pointed out that the child lock was on at the driver's console. When that child lock is on at the driver's console none of the windows work locally. Once the child lock was switched off the local switch worked fine. Wifes are wonderful.
Special thanks to Lunchboxx for his pioneering work and sharing the results with everyone.
If only everyone else was as thoughtful and courteous.

 

[torqlox]

Very comical write-up, thanks for this thread! It has taught me a lot regarding these window fixes. Unfortunately I didn’t have the luxury of the regulator already being assembled to the window and in the door when I took delivery of my last truck. For the Driver’s side, the entire regulator/motor combo was out of the truck. I guess I will have to compress this spring and re-install the regulator assy back on all on my own? 

 

[torqlox]

Got'er dun lol. The biggest pia was aligning the brushes inside the motor when reinstalling the armature. The rest was cake . Looking forward to front passenger side tomorrow.

 

[alii06]

Thanks to the info in this thread. I finally got around to fixing my wife's explorer after a year of the driverside window not working. I changed out the motor on the driver's side since I had bought the whole motor and regulator. However, after watching a YouTube video on how to replace the whole window regulator and then finding this thread, it's much easier to fix the motor than to take out the whole regulator.

I now need to fix the front passenger motor since it broke earlier this year, but this time I will be changing out the motor bushings. For now my wife can go through the drive through without the hassles of opening the door to pay and get the food. She's happy now and I'm confident I can do the passenger side faster than 3.5hrs.

TIP:
1.) buy double stick tape to use when you close the splash barrier after you finish and before you put the door panel back. The adhesive on the barrier doesn't stick back good and the double side tape will ensure a good seal.

2.). Put some electrical tape over the hole you drilled to get access to the third motor bolt. This will seal the hole from leaking any thing into the cabin.

3.) before sealing the door with the barrier take time to lube the regulator track with some grease.

4.) after you get the door panel off ensure you pop out the panel clips and put them back on the panel. You cannot put the panel back on with the clips still in the door. It took me a little while to figure this out. Also, taking off the door panel is a *****. I had plastic panel removal tools and the panel didn't come off easy. One of the clips sheared off so I went to O'rileys Parts Store and got some replacement clips.

 

[scottfab]

All of this worked exactly as outlined. The drilling a 1/2 in whole worked perfectly. I did not replace the three white cylinders. They were shaped as was mentioned, like kidney beans. I flipped them such that the flat spot faced outward (180 deg). All works just fine.
I'll have to say, this is one of the best time savers I've read.
I'll add to the congratulations for Lunchboxx !!
Scott

You need to drill a 1/2 inch hole RIGHT HERE

It will end up looking like this

Pull the three motor bolts out and take it somewhere to work on it. My wife loves me, so I get the kitchen table Remove the TORX bolt (T20 i think)

Pop off the top w/ a screwdriver

Using a set of needle nose, push back on both sides of the retaining clip at the same time and shoot it across the kitchen. CUSS, ALOT. Find the clip and take a picture of it

Remove metal and plastic gears..Notice a significant LACK of bushings..and a funny smell...

 

[clsale1999]

I just did this repair to my 1995 Ford Explorer XLT 4.0L. The Dorman 74410 was the only replacements plugs I could find but, as per the package, they work on 1996 and up window motors and they in fact did not fit my 1995 window motor. No worries though, I just took a large hunting knife and chopped off about 1/8 of each plug creating a flat spot on each plug. Fit snugly and worked perfectly. Also taking a tip from "alii06" I used silicone grease and greased up the regulator track. Also I used some silicone spray and sprayed down the window track. The difference in the ease of movement and speed of the window was remarkable. Which made me start to think that the lack of lubrication created an unusual load on the window motor which made it fail.

 

[koda2000]

I've never had a problem with the window motor bushings (not yet anyway) but I'm a big fan of spraying silicon on the window channels periodically. I like Liquid Wrench brand foaming silicon spray, as it seems to stay put better and soak into the material in the channels more completely. Perhaps lubing the channels can prevent the bushings from failing (perhaps not) but I find it makes a huge difference in how smoothly the window goes up/down. It even stops the glass from ****ing in the channel when going down. I apply the lube maybe once a year, but if you live somewhere where dust/dirt is more prevalent you may want to do it more often. Be sure to use the straw that comes with the can of spray to avoid getting the silicon on the glass, as it's really hard to get it off.

 

[bobflood]

We have a guy at our Car Care ministry who loves doing these bushings. He has probably rebuilt 15-20 of these in the last couple of years on Explorers, Rangers, Grand Marquis, Crown Vic's and Taurus's. This is a great post for a really cheap and easy solution to a really annoying issue.