Body / Glass: Remove 2R5 Vent Windows

[Robert Crandall]

I am working on removing the vent windows on my 1949 2R5 truck. I have the three top screws removed. The heads of the two lower screws were rusted beyond screwdriver use, so I drilled the heads off. The mentions of this task in the repair manual and on this forum show to just remove them after removing the screws. Mine will not move in any direction. Does anyone see what I miss with this? I do not want to do anything to them. I need to fix the regulators, and step one in the repair manual is to remove these vent windows first, so I want to remove, set aside then replace as is. Thanks.

[hausdok]

Are you absolutely certain that you haven't missed a screw or bolt someplace - perhaps on the bottom or front edge of the doors?

[Robert Crandall]

Yes, thanks. The repair manual refers to 3 on the front outside and 2 in the bottom rubber. I drilled the heads off those bottom two. I can see the length of the rearmost of those two. If there is some connection on the thread rather than on the head, then I have a bigger problem. For now, the top or bottom of the window assembly will not move in any direction.

[hausdok]

I think I'd go to a left-handed drill two sizes smaller and keep going till I knew I'd passed through the vent framework. That might break them loose and back them out. If not, then I'd try turning out the rest of the drilled out bolts with an easy out. The drilled-out bolts might self destruct but the threads will probably still be OK. If you can then pull it out, you can dress those threads with a tap before reassembly with new bolts and some anti-seize.

[Skip Lackie]

Hausdok is on the right track, but these are thin sheet metal screws, so not sure they're big enough for an Easy Out. As I recall, the whole vent assembly must be slid backward about a halt inch before the top can be tipped backwards to separate the rubber from the door. So just removing the screw heads may not be enough -- the tops might need to be ground down enough to allow the vent frame to slide backwards. But I'd also try wiggling the whole assembly around as much as possible, and also try to tip the top of the vent backward.

[doofus]

I am in the middle of rebuilding the vent windows on a 63 lark.i had to remove window glass from regulator pins and set in bottom of door then with fasteners removed i had to give the division bar several whacks to dislodge everything. the division bar could be rusted to the door inner skin! Luck Doofus

[Robert Crandall]

Thank you all for your advice. I have it out now. I was able to reach the two screws inside the door with vise grips and back them out enough to get pliers on the top sides to turn them the rest of the way out. The door appears to have been worked on before I got the truck. One screw is one inch long, the other is 1-1/2 inches long, and they each have a different pitch. The whisker piece at the top was preventing the frame to move to the rear. I was able to adjust that a little with pliers.

Now I am stuck not getting the main window out. The repair manual shows to rotate it 45 degrees clockwise then lift out. I do not read the instruction to mean that the glass must be pulled from the lift channel, and I do not know how I would do that with the assembly in the door. I have the lower part of the lift channel and the lower rear corner of the window stuck against the back of the door. The top of the window is stuck against the frame that the vent window was bolted to, so the window will not go further up or rotate in either direction. Does anyone see what do I miss with this? Thanks.

[Robert Crandall]

It is interesting how light works. This truck was disassembled, painted and reassembled before I bought it using the same paint inside and out. The photo above makes them look completely different.

[Skip Lackie]

It has to be disconnected from the lift channel. Once it's free, you should have enough room to rotate it enough to clear everything. Run the lift channel all the way down. And the shop manual shows it being removed from the inside of the door. It's much easier from the outside.

[Robert Crandall]

Thank you for confirming that for me. I will get on it.

[Robert Crandall]

The window assembly is out. I had to pay closer attention to the 'rotate clockwise' part. Which side of which door matters. The illustration that goes with the installation instruction shows that the position in my photo in post #7 is not correct. At first rotating it as is shown in the installation instruction did not work. After removing the whiskers at the bottom of the window to gain more room and putting more bending pressure on the window than I wanted to (and scratching the paint) to get it to guide outside the frame , the window did come out and not break the glass. Not fun, but it is out. I did miss the suggestion in post #9 of bending the window to the outside. I will do that for the other door and for the installation.

Here on the east coast, unpainted interior surfaces do not last, even on vehicles like this one that are stored indoors and not driven on wet roads or on wet days. While the window mechanisms are out I will clean, prime and paint the inside of the doors. Rust bubbles are appearing at the bottom of the door.

[Skip Lackie]

I missed the fact that you were trying to do it with the window fuzzies in place. They have to come off first.

[Robert Crandall]

I find that I have two broken springs in this door, part 278809 for the door latch, and 652954 for the window crank. The websites for Studebaker International, Stephen Allen, Classic Enterprises, Studebakers West and Studebaker.parts.com do not show availability of these springs.

Has anyone found either a source or a substitution for these? Thanks.

[Robert Crandall]

I have the roll up windows re-installed in both doors and the vent window re-installed on the driver's side. I found in a forum search that someone used a Ford spring for the window regulator. I found no information for a spring for the door latch. After scrounging and looking at photos on the internet I bought the springs shown in the photo below. Also shown are my broken springs. Both of these springs were not broken in the passenger door, so I have a spare of each. The spring in the door latch is the one that holds the outside handle from sagging, so I now have a non-sagging handle. The window regulator spring has an additional wrap. It fits and works but appears to be a little big for its clearance, just a guess. The spring gives 3 clicks at the same point of rotation when I roll the window up. It does not click going down. I am already used to that because I will not do any more fixing on that.

The repair manual shows the window whiskers being removed before the glass, but I had no room to do that. As is noted in post #12, the whiskers must be removed and installed with the window below their level. I disconnected the window and lowered it into the door then removed the whiskers. To install I lowered the window into the door then installed the whiskers. I found it difficult to bring the window glass up into place for reconnecting to the guide from being loose in the bottom of the door.

As is noted in post #9, the window glass goes into the door much more easily from outside the door.

My newly non-sagging outside door handle on the driver's side opens the door as expected. However, the inside handle does not. I clamped both side door lock assemblies in a vice and compared the operation of each one. I could not find any difference. The inside latch arm moves the same parts in each side's assembly. The passenger side inside handle does open the door. I changed nothing in this side. I replaced the broken spring for the driver side, but changed nothing else, but the inside handle does not unlatch toe door.

Again, thank you all for your advice. And for my new problem: Does anyone know of anything that I could have done wrong while replacing broken spring 278809?

Thanks.

[Corbinstein0]

How much did the door latch spring cost ya?