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'72 window regulator spring installation??

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Old Feb 5, 2012 | 03:54 PM
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Default '72 window regulator spring installation??

Assy manual does not cover this at all, that I can see.

To install a new coil spring, I am going to assume with the regulator in its full extended (up) position, the spring is installed.

The question is,and I haven't taken the regulator out yet,( that is the next project), does the spring get any preload like maybe one turn, before hooking it over the tab?

Thanks,
Doug
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Old Feb 5, 2012 | 04:24 PM
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Default This may or may not help...

This is a picture of the spring installed on the drivers side.

The spring has the least tension with the regulator extended and the window up.
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Old Feb 5, 2012 | 04:50 PM
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Now this is where it gets interesting.

I am working on teh passenger side, teh window has always been real slow going up,a nd lightning fast coming down, so i ssumed teh spring was broken.

it isn't.

The spring is rustly, like it is real old, but it seems installed backwards to me.

In other words, the coil gets tighter as the window is raised,and looser as the window is lowered.

Even with the regulator laying on a bench, it is slow to raise, and fast to go to lowest position.

The spring has a lot of tension on it, even in its most relaxed position.

Thoughts?

I can take a pic, maybe I will and post it in a few minutes.

Doug
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Old Feb 5, 2012 | 05:04 PM
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Pass side, lowered postion, looking at it as it would approx be mounted in the car.

It that spring backwards?

Thanks,
Doug


Last edited by AZDoug; Feb 5, 2012 at 05:06 PM.
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Old Feb 5, 2012 | 05:54 PM
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Here's the right side...
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Old Feb 5, 2012 | 06:08 PM
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Well, i can see your spring is installed opposite from mine. The spring tab on mine was pointing down, the spring tab on yours points up.

I will put the new spring in correctly.

Fussing with it, by taking the lifting arm about 3/4 of a turn past full up, I can get the spring on, and that preloads the spring about 3/4 of a turn when the window is in full up when I pull the arm back down to engage the sector with the motor spur gear.

Thanks,
Doug
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Old Feb 8, 2012 | 04:22 PM
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The window works a lot better with the spring installed the correct way.

I had to guess on the preload, but think i got it right.

Dunno if some PO, or mechanic somehow managed to get the spring in backwards at one time, or it came this way from the factory.

The old spring was real rusty, it wasn't something replaced in the past 10 or 20 years IMO.

Doug
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Old Mar 11, 2014 | 02:26 PM
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Default degrees of loading

Doug,

I know this is an old post but I am now trying to accomplish the same thing. As everyone else has noted, the service manual is silent on this issue. How many degrees of loading is required for each side? Stated another way, I reason that the spring will have the least amount of tension when the window is up, so installing the spring with the regulator extended in the up position will have how many degrees of turn?
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