CLUNK!

[Roscomacaw]

No, not you, Ron. That was the sound Pete's door glass made as it dropped to the bottom of the door yesterday.

Tools loaded, I was headin' out to see if I could get some time in on that freebie 2R engine I have to take out. The window was already halfway down as I started out, and I grabbed the window handle to lower the glass the rest of the way. "CLUNK!" It went down alright.

Being in a hurry to drive the two miles to where the 2R sits waiting, I just muttered something that this forum would automatically censor, and drove off.
The guy that could let me in to work on removing the 2R's engine wasn't there, so I drove back home and decided to see what was the ailment with the door glass. It was easy to diagnose.
And this has actually happened to me before - although it's ben years ago, so this problem didn't instantly come to mind when the glass first slid south.[B)] The two screws that hold the bottom of the guide rail had come loose and fallen out! This let the rail tip forward and the glass slip downward. With a little bit (OK, ALOT) or grumping, it'll be back good as new. I got as far as getting everything out of the door yesterday before I got distracted by the realization that I'd better get dinner started.

As I said tho, this has happened before. In fact, I've caught those two screws loose a number of times thru the years. If you have a C-cab, they're readily visible in the depression at the bottom of the door. I just hand't noticed their loose ways of late and they managed to sneak out on me.
Of course, as evidenced by so many of my posts - there's nothing worse than having a coupla screws loose![:0][:0][V]



1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1963 Cruiser
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President two door

[bams50]

At least the CLUNK! wasn't accompanied with a PISSSSSSH! which sometimes happens when glass falls[}]

Can you use Loctite on those screws?

Robert (Bob) Andrews Owner- Studebakeracres- on the IoMT (Island of Misfit Toys!)
Parish, central NY 13131

"Some people live for the rules, I live for exceptions"- 311

"Do they all not, by mere virtue of having survived as relics of a bygone era, amass a level of respect perhaps not accorded to them when they were new?"

[Roscomacaw]

You are correct. I was lucky it didn't break.

Yes, I need to scare up some locktite this time. I was thinking that last night. Even tho these screws have the internal-external star washers on them, there's alot of vibration and force on the rails.[}]

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1963 Cruiser
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President two door

[jclary]

MAN! I've had my truck for decades and have not had that problem. Maybe all that "ground shaking and vibration" that goes on in California is causing it.

John Clary
Greer, SC

I have only two limitations ...BRAINS & ENERGY
SDC member since 1975

[studeclunker]

LOL, yeah you're right, Bob, that did get my attention! Durn, here I thought someone had found a home for Pinky. Well, looks like you've got a handle on Pete (just need to get crank'in), so... what's the skinny on the Packard?


Home of the famous Mr. Ed!
K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Studebaker!
Ron Smith
Where the heck is Lewiston, CA?

[Roscomacaw]

Well, I got the window back in last night. If any of you have ever dropped something down into one of those C-cab doors, you've had to ask yourself "WHY" they didn't see fit to either make the access hole swing deeper OR put some kind of lower access plate. My big arms tested the thickness of the door - but that was the easy part. My fingers could not reach to the deepest reaches of the door - down to where one of those fibre rail washers had dived to.
I ended up using the shop vac with a special snout tool I've made for cleaning inside the roof rails. With the vent window out of the way (had to come out to reinstall the door glass anyways), I was able to illuminate the depths of the door with a flashlight, while snaking the vacuum's tool towards where the washer lay, laughing at me.[}]

But - got it out, got it in and now the window's crankin' just fine. I neglected to tell that the metal front edge had come loose and fallen into the door quite sometime earlier and I didn't feel like putzing with it until the rail forced me hand yesterday, so I fixed that too.[^]

Pete's got other maladies too, but not enough to cripple or endanger him. Last week I realized I didn't have any brake lites - during the daytime. I HAD had brake lites at night as I could see the edges of the lens illuminate via my rear view mirror whenever I applied the brakes. Again, this was at night - which I rarely drive Pete in anymore.
But a few weeks ago I did drive him over to Lowe's after dark and noted that while I had turn signals alright, there was no illuminatory response to the brake pedal.[V] Since in Pete's case, the brakes and turn signals share the same filament, the prime suspect was the brake lite switch with the TS switch and associated wiring in second and third place.

When I finally wriggled my prodigious frame underneath Pete's frame, I found a wire dangling from the brake lite switch. Aha! Too danged easy! Fixed the wire, propped the brake pedal down with a stick and strolled rearward for a gander. WHAT? NO friggin' brake lites! How can this be???

Scrounge around and find a meter and start checking for power. Wait a minute...... NO power at that BL Switch which SHOULD BE hot all the time.[B)]
Here's the laugher! About a year and a half ago, I changed the headlite switch in the course of doing some other things. It had gotten to where when I pulled it on, I wasn't sure the lites were gonna come on or not.
Someone else had tinkered with the switch and it's wires in the past and did a half-posterior job about it.[8] Biggs was gonna do it up right.[^]
Well, the end result is that I can always count on the headlites to work when I ask them to. Thing is, the brake lites are supposed to get their power from a terminal on said headlite switch - just not the terminal I'd wired them to![:I] SO, I set myself up with brake lites that would work at night (whenever the headlite switch was out), but not during the day (when I couldn't SEE in the rear view mirror, that they weren't working!).

SO, for at least a year - I drove around with no brake lites during the daytime and brake lites reassuringly showing themselves at night - when the headlites were on.[xx(] Then - I guess one could say - I had the "good fortune" to have a wire break to where I had no brake lites after dark. Thus giving me a clue to a possible dangerous situation!
I drive Pete ALOT - during daylight hours. It's had to have been over a year and a half that I did so without brake lites![:0] And yet - no one honked, yelled or gave me a clue in any way, that they weren't working. Amazing.

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1963 Cruiser
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President two door

[studeclunker]

That is scary![:0] Praise God that no one smacked into Pete's rear! Pete could handle it, a new car couldn't.

By the by, I know what you mean about that plastic roller in the window regulator.[B)] It's worn out on Ed as well.[xx(] every once in a while I'll hear a schwoop-CLUNK! As the Driver's window drops to the bottom of the door. Luckily, in my case, all I have to do is run the regulator all the way down and it picks up the window again. then I can roll it back up. One can get a bit damp when it's raining though.


Home of the famous Mr. Ed!
K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Studebaker!
Ron Smith
Where the heck is Lewiston, CA?