$.09 fix for Grand Marquis power window

I fixed my wife's '92 Grand Marquis' rear passenger power window motor this weekend for less than a dime in parts. Instead of getting the ~$30 kit that replaces the gears for the window motor, I decided to try using

3 ea 1/4x20 nuts from the local Home Depot at $.03 each. I'm tired of spending 30 bucks plus when the only thing that breaks are the three little round pieces of plastic that connect the inner and outer gears. They act as a shear pin on a prop, but you can't get just the three plastic cylinders...only the kit which consists of the outer nylon gear and the inner steel gear along with the three cylinders and some grease. I never had to replace the gears anyway...only the plastic cylinders. We'll see what happens, but the price is right! Stan K.
Reply to
Stan Kasperski
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You can buy the three nylon rollers as a separate pack of three for about $6. See here for Part No. 74409

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What you have done with your 10 cent fix is make a cabbage chopper (oe one for a baby's head).

Reply to
Sharon K.Cooke

You can't get 3 stainless steel nuts for that little! Now you possibly could get 3 galvanized nuts for that much, but you'll be changing them out to stainless steel nuts at some future point in time.

Reply to
scott_z500

Any power window will hurt a child wether or not nylon is used.

There have been discussions about changing this to a pressure sensing auto-reverse system, and it may have even already been mandated for all future models starting in the next couple of years.

Reply to
Mark

Thanks for the tip, but I think the part number is 74410 instead of

74409 for the plugs. I've never seen them in any of the HELP! displays around here, but now that I have a less expensive and better solution, I think I'll skip the nylon plugs anyway because they simply will fail again. Besides, $6 for three small nylon plugs is a little over the top too. This is certainly not one of Ford's better ideas. I'd like to have $.09 for every nylon plug failure on Ford power window regulator products for the last 20 years. Stan K.
Reply to
Stan Kasperski

Mark opined in news:

That is a f@##$king ridiculous idea and no one who knows anything about cars would even suggest it!

The solution is already in production.

If a child kills himself with the new pull-up switches then just chalk it up to Darwin at work!

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

[ rant deleted ]

My 2003 Honda Civic has the safer pull up switches. My 2005 Ford Escape has vertical rockers. My 2000 Dodge Durango has vertical toggle switches. They won't be allowed under the new regulation, I don't think, but they seem safer to me. The Dodge has guards near the switches, so they might meet spec at the drivers door, but not the other doors.

The 2005 Ford 500 has pull up switches plus auto-reverse on the driver's window.

Oct. 1, 2008 is a ways off, and does nothing for the millions of vehicles with badly designed switches that are currently on the road.

Horizontal rocker switches: Most vehicles from Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, GMC, Oldsmobile, and Pontiac, and the Saturn Ion.

Horizontal toggle switches: Some vehicles from Chrysler including the Dodge Neon, Stratus, and Intrepid, and Dodge trucks.

Lever switches, the safer type: Acura, Audi, BMW, Chrysler Pacifica, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, most Isuzu models, Jaguar, Kia, Lexus, most Mazda models, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Saturn L and Vue, current Saab models, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo.

Please don't suggest that a 3 year old defend himself against poor design.

Reply to
dold

opined in news:csmnfi$rjn$ snipped-for-privacy@blue.rahul.net:

Do you read much? Show me where I suggested that

Automatic reversing is going to be a real PITA once the system gets a little wear! And it's dangerous in itself....

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

The suggestion was that the wonderful pull up switches were already in place. They aren't. They won't be until 2008.

There is no mandate for auto-reversing in the NHTSA ruling, just safer switches.

"The agency determined that the then available automatic reversal technology could not reliably close vehicle windows in the presence of snow or ice, or even the friction of cold or tight window seals."

Reply to
dold

opined in news:csmsgu$uag$ snipped-for-privacy@blue.rahul.net:

or when trying to close the window to ward off a possible physical intrusion or attack.

Now go back and read what I wrote in my first post and the phrase I was responding to...

Dont come back with "Ford doesnt have them in production" or ANY version of that...I did not say that And some mfrs, including MAzda DO have them in place as of two years ago, at least.

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

The majority of current model cars in the United States do not have them. The solution is available, and in limited production. My two year old Honda has them, I noted that in my response.

I would think that a crusty old geezer curmudgeon would have thicker skin.

Reply to
dold

I would think that someone commenting on my thin skin would have read what i wrote >>>>>> in context

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

why don't they just make windows so that if you roll them up more than an couple of inches from the top, they automatically just tweak open an inch or two, that way they could almost never strangle anybody. If you wind it up more than 2 inches from the top, or all the way up, they would just stay there. When winding them down they would behave like regular windows. Guess this is a little too quirky and people would complain that the window is falling back down. Or has this already been tried?

Reply to
frenchy

Aren't these the same stupid plugs that always fail in the power motor of my Chryslers? Sounds like it, wouldn't blame it on Ford, maybe on whoever came up with those dumb nylon things in the first place.

Reply to
frenchy

Reply to
dold

"Harry Face" wrote

Blurry pictures about half way down...

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The big driven gear has a 3-sided opening in it's middle.

The smaller inner piece has a 3-sided protrusion that goes inside the gear's opening, the other side connecting to the mechanism that actually moves the window.

When assembled, the inner piece's "corners" point to the flat sides of the opening, creating 3 spaces between the inner's sides and the gear's points. The nylon spacers fit in those spaces.

The spacers have a certain amount of squishable "give", so if the window jams, the center piece's rounded corners can compress the spacers a bit and jump over them, acting as a type of safety clutch.

Over time, the spacers (as the page says) turn to mush, and one day the big outer gear is happily spinning away, but there's no longer a firm connection to the center piece, so the window goes nowhere.

Stan has put metal nuts in place of the spacers, so no matter what (or who) may be jamming the window, it will continue to close at full force as long as the switch is held. An excellent way (as others have said) to kill a child, or maybe strip the gear, break the window or rip out the regulator.

Reply to
MasterBlaster

Hmm guess I should have called them "stupid nylon things" then. Would be great if they were plastic AND didn't disintegrate though...Frenchy

Reply to
frenchy

Maybe. Maybe not. Time will tell. Did you feel the same way when the feds mandated the same type of system for automatic garage door openers? This is the same thing.

For very few models have the auto reverse winows. A handfull have switches that prevent kids from accidentally kneeling on them and putting the window up.

Reply to
Mark

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 12:36:36 GMT, "MasterBlaster"

My solution to the crushed nylon slugs on my F150's and CV's is/has been to clean everything up as grease free as possible. Assemble the parts onto the spindle and fill the area with epoxy. The so-called clutch effect no longer exist but, I don't know that it really ever did; the window will stop with the same amount of force as it always has. If you open the motor, you will see that it is stopped by work load with the use of a bi-metal contact on one of the brushes that heats quickly when load is increased on the motor and stops the motor. I have placed a rubber ball into the opening when the window is closing and it will still stop at the same place with either the slugs or the epoxy fill. I believe the slugs are used to quiet the operation of the window as the noise from the motor is the only thing have been able to notice that is different.

Lugnut.

Reply to
lugnut

Mark opined

There's another guy who cant read, and evidently doesnt think ahead much!

A Garage door is not subject to the same tolerances and clearances.

I referred to the "pull" switches as the solution.

Quick ... do a search and tell me HOW many kids have been killed with power windows since 1995.

Reply to
Backyard Mechanic

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