Brass Window Rollers

[Guest]

Quarter windows ...

I spent an ungodly amount of time on mine, rebuilding motors and mechanisms, adjusting for ever and never could get them to align correctly. I hated the road noise after spending so much time and money installing sound deadener and a nice stereo that I finally came to the conclusion that it is just a very poor design and would require major modifications to the mechanism, i.e. cutting, welding and reverse engineering (the rollers may help,but I don't think that would be enough) that I finally just figured out a way to bolt them in place permanently. It is know finally quiet inside and I'm a very happy camper. I do have A/C. Just my two cents. Mike

[Anders]

Is there any Stainless collar made anywhere? I have at least one quite bad

Any quote on a full slab ( 12 pcs. ) yet?

[Dakota Boy]

You can steal all the other parts from the plastic/teflon roller kits available from the t-bird parts houses. Keep the beveled washer, the flat washer, the spring, and the set-pin. Then throw the plastic piece in the recycle bin.

[Anders]

I don´t know how your windows looks like, but there are only 2 rollers in my quarter glass. 3 in the front glass and therefor 10 in total for the whole car. There is however, two of another kind of rollers in each of the rear window that in my car seems to be made of some kind of plastic. Nylon I guess. Looks little a hat, as they support 3 sides as they glide. They are the support for the vertical movement where the metal rollers are for the horizontal movement of the mecanism. Well, the vertical movement put the window up & down, and the plastic only support the vertical movement. They are not the same and cannot be switched with eachother.

[simplyconnected]

You're right, Anders. 23240 are window rollers (and there are only two).

These are quite different from my classic Ford Cars.

[partsetal]

Dave,
What about the pin on the unmarked regulator arm? The text portion lists 6 or 12 rollers per car, and I've always used 12.
Carl

[Anders]

Strange. My rollers was on the top pins that goes into the window slot....

[Dakota Boy]

there has to be two rollers that run in the window track, and one roller on the regulator track

[Anders]

My bad. Didn´t get it and couldn´t sleep, so I got our to the car ( 03:15 AM ) and had a look again. And yes, as the mecanism for the quarter window is still in the car, I looked down and found the missing one. That one stays in the car when you take out the window, so I guess that´s why I never saw it.
All in all, we are back at 12 pcs. for the whole car. 3 in each window. Sorry for the confusion, but at least, I learn something again

[simplyconnected]

Dave,
What about the pin on the unmarked regulator arm? The text portion lists 6 or 12 rollers per car, and I've always used 12.
Carl

My bad. Didn´t get it and couldn´t sleep, so I got our to the car ( 03:15 AM ) and had a look again. And yes, as the mecanism for the quarter window is still in the car, I looked down and found the missing one. That one stays in the car when you take out the window, so I guess that´s why I never saw it.
All in all, we are back at 12 pcs. for the whole car. 3 in each window. Sorry for the confusion, but at least, I learn something again

Anders, I've been grappling with this for days. Since I have no Thunderbird, I mainly depend on you guys who do, and the Ford publications. I have found very few errors in the Ford books, but they are still errors.

Carl got me going because (#1) he is absolutely right and (#2) the illustration clearly shows two rollers, not three. The top LH pin looks like Ford just clipped it off, with no resolution, or way to attach it. (There are different Ford models that use ONE roller because the window pivots.) Thanks for getting me going, Carl.

Anders, could you take some pictures for us? I don't have any real pictures that show the rear windows. I only have drawings. Pictures help me clarify my mis-understandings.

Also, could you please measure the thickness of your rollers? I find that the parts books specify two different rollers. I don't think there is a difference but again, I could be wrong.
Here's what I get:

This measurement = 0.685-inches or 11/16"
The book also specifies a 9/16" roller. Which one do you have?

And finally... Pulling the spring clip out is easy. Trying to get things apart without pulling the clip can make this job VERY difficult. How is it that your window roller FELL OUT??? Is it made differently? Does it attach to a pin like the others? I'm dying to hear the answer. Thanks in advance, Anders. - Dave

[Anders]

I will take a few pics tomorrow. It´s 3 AM now, and I´m on my way to bed. However, it looks like your drawing ( that was helpful to me ) so #23240 seems to be missing on the drawing on the upper left arm/pin.
When I took out the rear door mecanism and motor today, those lower rollers was odd as they where stucked and have a HUGHE play at the same time. But I think it is like this: Over the years, some people have been down and fixed something with the windows. A screw on left side could be missing on the right side and such. One of the rollers in the drivers side door was not in the slot ( ?) and my guess that someone didn´t get it right and gave up, because it´s quite tricky. On the rear glass, booth top rollers are quite easy to reach , but you have to take out the whole thing ( or at least loosen the bolts for the motor and arms ) in order to be able to get to the lower rolers, and my guess is that these have not being touched since they where put there in May 15, 1958. They look most damaged. The rest looks pretty OK. They are all greasy, as are the sliders, but the grease have dryed so it´s far from smooth. So a clean up is important anyway. Stange enough, all my windows worked and closed pretty nicely, but you could always hear how much the motor have to work in order to pull up the rear windows.
Where did I say that my Roller FELL OUT?
Will measure ( in metric... ) and take pics tomorrow.

[simplyconnected]

...I looked down and found the missing one. That one stays in the car when you take out the window...

"I looked down..." makes me think it was laying in the bottom, so I assumed it fell out. That spring clip is supposed to make the rollers stay on the pins. None of them should stay in the car.

When you reassemble the arms, the rollers should be in the tracks. Then you simply push the pins into the rollers. The springs snap around the pin grooves unless the rollers are put into the tracks backward. So, the spring clip should always face the scissors arm.

0.685" (or 11/16") = 17.4MM
0.563" (or 9/16") = 14.3MM

Your rollers should be one of these. - Dave

[Anders]

All mine are mainly 17, 6 mm but a few are 17,4 to 17,8.

[simplyconnected]

Thanks for checking, Anders. Since the originals are sheet metal stampings, the difference in 0.008" (0.2MM) is insignificant. They are the same size.

I want to draw attention to the Window Roller link in our Technical Resource Library. CLICK HERE
- Dave

[Dakota Boy]

Everyone reading this thread should make note that your quarter window frames (where the top two rollers are located) MIGHT be all hogged-out from years and years of operation.

Take a calipers and measure the gap in the roller track. You probably will find that the gap is larger in the center. Tap it back carefully with a brass hammer until the pot-metal roller track has the same gap all the way across the roller track.