How To: First Gen Rear Window with Cables Fix

[Tony H]

Just put mine in Saturday morning.

A little tough convincing the Motor assembly to get in there. Probably if I put voltage on the motor to shift the 'arm' it would have slid in easier.
The bicycle handbrake cable on the one I pulled out was not just broken but totally mangled up in the Motor Wheel.
When taking out the original motor, I just knocked out the three rivits and the Motor and Cad plated bracket came out in one shot. I didn't have to fool around with those Tamper proof Screw heads that attach the bracket to the Bracket. Handbrake cable junk.
I finish by 9:30 a.m. Saturday and with the humidity, I was dripping.

 

[Tbars4]

...Wow, Kbabiak must be in hog heaven with all the replacement parts he's been selling to fix these windows...

...I am glad to see others are easily able to finally fix these broken little boogers after going for a while with out them...I must say, it is so nice to be able to finally get a cross breeze in the X on a hot day...

 

[Tony H]

...Wow, Kbabiak must be in hog heaven with all the replacement parts he's been selling to fix these windows...

...I am glad to see others are easily able to finally fix these broken little boogers after going for a while with out them...I must say, it is so nice to be able to finally get a cross breeze in the X on a hot day...

I couldn't justify the $70+ for a used Regulator that might break in days. But $40 for this Arm style one made sense. Thanks for posting this regulator style.. I haven't had an opening rear window since I bought the 'X' 4-5 years ago

 

[jch5185]

.... with the humidity, I was dripping.

I got mine in just today...the Window arm is much better than the cable system. I do not recommend working on this in the heat of the day I was dripping sweat!! However, a job well done!!

 

[Tbars4]

...Congrats on your fix..:biggthump

...I think everyone who has posted in this thread wound up doing it on a hot day...We haven't had a cool day in forever..

 

[Tbars4]

..Bumpin for the new guys...

 

[rkbonds1]

I know this thread is really old but, I had been researching how to repair the rear windows on my 91 and after searching and not really finding what I was looking for I pulled the window regulator and motor and did some tear down and rebuild. If you are patient you can replace the cables if your motor and regulator are good for around $5.oo. I bought some new bicycle cables you will only use the shifter cables and 2 butt connectors. After you remove the window motor and regulator mount the regulator and motor on a flat stable surface I used a couple of screws and attached it to my work bench. Start with the bottom cable on the drum extend the the track to it's furthest position for that cable. Then insert the lead end into the drum and run the cable through the spring plastic guide then through the cable housing, then put the cable and housing into the plastic guide and run the cable up the track to the window bracket. Make sure the bracket is fully extended then compress the spring just enough to get the plastic guide into the track, then you can cut the cable about 1/4 of an inch above the plactic mounting location on the window location. Strip the plastic from around the connector you will have to open the connector up to get the cable to go all the way through, then you can crimp the connector ( I chose to beat mine completely flat with a hammer ) then bend the connector in the middle to form an L shape you can now stick that into the holder and hot glue it in place make sure it's fitting properly before you glue it in or it will pull free later and you don't want that to happen. Now connect to a 12 volt source and hold slight resistance to the track with your free hand so that the cable will roll around the drum properly. Once the track has moved completely down to the opposite stop repeat the process for the top cable and reinstall. I did this some time ago and haven't had any problems since and now both windows work great. I wish I had taken some picks when I had it out and was doing it but I was in a hurry the first window to 4 hrs to drill out the rivits, rebuild the system, then reinstall. The second took 1 & 1/2 hrs start to finish. It's actually easier than it sounds.

I apologize if I hyjacked this thread I just thought it was a good place to put it since this was the only thread I found on the topic.

 

[jjenkins]

Does anyone know that kind of vehical those parts are out of?

 

[Tbars4]

...The parts are from the 95-01 to convert the 91-94...

...91-94 had the rear cables...

 

[jjenkins]

thank you very much and those are out of the back door of a 93-94?

 

[92exp4x4]

...The parts are from a 93-94 Explorer...

...91-92 had the rear cables...

Are you sure? All of mine utilize the same cable assembly, 91 through 94. Same with the trucks in the junkyard I pulled parts from.

Great write up, just curious about the years. I wish I would have seen this thread earlier

 

[Tbars4]

...I had a brain fart and I don't know what I was thinking..

..I will edit my previous post accordingly..

 

[jjenkins]

found that out at the junk yard looked at 10 93-94 ex's and all had the cable thought i was goin crazy lol but figured it out and hopefully gonna get the parts to do it soon thanks for the info

 

[ralphjones]

Can you forward Kbabiak contact information.

 

[BigRondo]

Can you forward Kbabiak contact information.

Check this thread: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=213257

 

[Maniak]

I just did this fix on our '92. I went to the junk yard and grabbed everything in the door from a 96 explorer for $35. I used a sawzall to make short work of getting the stuff out.

The only issue we ran into during the install was I didn't really see this pic in Ted post until we spent 30 minutes trying to figure how to get the new motor assembly where the old one was.

What I failed to realize was that the new motor goes in a different place. Once I realized that, it was quick work getting it back in.

~Mark

 

[Tbars4]

..Glad to see this thread is getting some use...:biggthump

...It's nice to be able to roll all your windows up/down in the summer heat..

 

[Maniak]

..Glad to see this thread is getting some use...:biggthump

...It's nice to be able to roll all your windows up/down in the summer heat..

It was our April cold snap.. was 45F-50F today and rained yesterday.. So I wanted to be able to roll it up again and not have to put a trash bag over the door to keep the rain out.

I think I'm gonna fix the other side before it breaks since the conversion is so easy and cheap.

~Mark

 

[coreman23]

What size bolts did you guys use? I don't have a rivet gun, but I have the parts already.

 

[Tbars4]

..I just used short ones I had laying around and used nylocs for the nuts..

...IIRC I was short a couple and just ran over to the hardware store before I put the panels back on completely..