Difficulty removing the power window motor

[tiedeman]

The rear passenger side window in my 92 explorer will not go up more than 2 or 3 inches. The motor seems to be working but the gears seem to be damaged (I'm guessing). After removing the door panel, speaker, etc., I removed the 3 bolts that mount the motor (I had to drill a hole at a dimple to get to one of them). My question is...what else has to be removed to actually get the motor assy out from the door? Do I have to remove the cable from the "rail" or does the cable assy (with what appears to be spring-like switches) detach somehow from the motor? Remember the window is stuck in the down position. I've heard that this is not that uncommon of an issue and that some folks have been able to replace the just the gears. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Michael]

When I replaced my front window motor I had to manually raise the window before the motor would come out. It is probably a similar thing for the back.

 

[mdrut]

No cable....
The window works on a "scissor track" system. To remove the motor, get yourself a Haynes Manual and study it...You will have to drill out several rivets, Tie the window in the UP position, remove the track and motor..Replace or rebuild the motor, and reinstall, replacing the rivets with nuts and bolts.

What the problem is...The gear box uses 3 to 4 poly balls/bushings to drive the main gear. After time, this poly begins to break down and crumble. That is why you hear the motor, but nothing happens.

What I did...
Remove the motor, take the gear box apart, remove all the crumbled bushings, replace them with 3/8 steel ball bearings, add some grafite grease, and reinstall.
The replacement cost for the motor was overr a $100, the ball bearings cost me under $1.00

Took me about 2 hrs to do..This is with a FULL shop of tools to choose from and work with.