Removing Door Glass

[DonaldSmith]

I'm trying to remove the rear door glass on my 47 DeSoto. I've done this before, but I've forgotten how.

 

I've got the door panel and garnish molding off.  The glass rides in channels in the door, with spring-loaded wheels at the bottom channel of the glass.  

 

I took the screws out of the channel at the front of the door, but the channel doesn't want to come out.  The wheels are against it, and the lockset prevents pulling the channel down. Or do I pull it down really hard?

 

The glass frame has a channel-shaped weatherstrip.  Do I remove this?

 

Retirement is supposed to be fun, but everything takes longer, even if I remember what I 'm doing,  

[Plymouthy Adams]

on the regulator (crank up/down assembly) there are two studs that go through the winder riser (metal bar the glass seats into via the glass setting tape)  on these studs are round clip that have cnter englongater holes and locking clip..yu must remove these to relase the glass from the mechanism..not sure of the rear but for the fronts the door mechanism is also in the way and needs removed..which requires the removal of the  stationary  guide...

[DonaldSmith]

OK, I know about the studs and their clips.  I had them apart, but then put them together again, so I could crank up the window.  

 

I guess I'll go after the lock mechanism, so I can remove the front guide channel. Then I can roll the window down, disengage the studs, and get the glass loose?  I'll try.  

 

Thanks for the reply. 

[DonaldSmith]

I got the glass out!

 

I had to drive the front guide channel down, against the force of the wheels, and remove the guide channel.  (This is after I removed the lockset.)  Then I disconnected the studs from the bottom channel, and worked the glass free. 

 

Now to find an auto glass company that cuts and polishes laminated safety glass.  Several years ago, I found a local company.  I'll see if they are still around.

[LAKOTA169]

Is Henderson still around. Might try Ferndale Glass.

[DonaldSmith]

This morning I took the glass to Service Glass Co., Pontiac, MI, 248.335.9444.  That's the place I've gone to in the past.  They'll check the existing glass against the pattern, to make sure that the last guy did it right.  No sense copying any errors.  They'll pencil grind the edges and put the glass in the channel.

So, My car will be down for a week or so.  

 

I'll probably go to the Rolling Sculpture Car Show in Ann Arbor on July 12, and of course I'll be around here for the Woodward DreamCruise on August 17th, and the weeks before.  

(The best time to see the DreamCruise is the weekend before.  The cops closed down the first DreamCruise around 11:00 pm so that their parents would come home.)

 

Then there's the Orphan Car Show in Ypsilanti in September,where I can hang out with the DeSoto Club folks.   

[Plymouthy Adams]

I use Vintage Glass...they are a CNC cutter and have the original NAG drawing...reasonable priced and I get all my side glass cut/tempered as is the safety glass of today's modern car..with exception of the front windshield which by law must be laminate..get their show stopper special and buy new glass all around..amazing savings..

[DonaldSmith]

I got the replacement glass today and installed it.  Installation is simply the reverse of removal, remember? (Don't you just love the word "simply"?) But trial and error eventually works.  So here's a summary, for the future reference:. 

 

To remove:  (Example, post-war Mopar, rear door.)  Run the glass up into the opening.  Remove the door handle, crank, door panel, and garnish molding.

 

Remove the channel in the door body by the lock.  The channel does not want to come out with the lock in place, but the lock doesn't want to come out with the channel in place..So...

Remove the bottom screws of the channel, and loosen the top screws.  (These screws are in the door edge.)  Remove the screws at the door lock and at the handle shaft. 

Pull the bottom of the channel away from the door edge, and slide the door lock down, using necessary force.  Then remove the channel.  (You can pry the flanged wheels of the bottom glass channel back, but don't apply force to the glass.)

 

If there is a wood block to stop the downward travel of the glass, remove the wood block.  Lower the glass to the bottom of travel, so it is out of the channels in the sides and top of the window opening.  Remove the clips and washers at the studs at the end of the regulator arms, and pull the studs out of the slots in the bottom glass channel.  

 

Tilt the glass as necessary to get the flanged wheels out of the other channel in the door.  Move the glass inboard, away from the channels in the  glass opening, lift the glass and remove it.  Simple, right?  

 

For installation, drop (wrong choice of word) the glass into the body of the door, connect the regulator studs to the bottom glass channel, and and raise the glass into the channels in the window openings.

 

Remember the trick with the channel and lock?  Install the channel with the top screws loose and the bottom unscrewed,  You may have to pry the flanged wheels back, to get the top of the channel in place. Pull the bottom of the channel and its bracket away from the door edge and work the lock up into place.  ("Work" is a good choice of words.) Then replace all the other stuff.  

 

If you have screws left over, save them with your collection of odd fasteners. 

[Young Ed]

Wood? Didn't you have an L shaped stop attached with 1 phillps screw and a little tab to hold it straight?

[DonaldSmith]

The bottom stop is a chunk of wood.  I don't know if it's original.  I added a resilient pad for the window channel to stop against.  

[Young Ed]

If you want I believe I have a couple extras of the OEM stop.

[Don Coatney]

Are you trying to turn your wagon into a woody?

[DonaldSmith]

My DeSoto Suburban looks like a woody, on the inside.  But the door panels are plastic laminate panels formed on wood molds, good for low production.  The garnish moldings are woodgrain steel, a common procedure. The cargo floor was the only exposed wood in the car, until I skinned it over with wood-grain plastic laminate.  (Had to take it all apart, including the jump seat.)

 

The cargo floor slopes up from the trunk lid and over the rear axle hump and also forms the bottom of the jump seat. The wood floor and jump seat are supported by various shapes of wood sleepers.  

And of course, the wheel chocks are wood.  (Long gone, but I made some new ones.) 

Wood was a good material for low-production items.  Cut it, shape it, and paint it black.

 

I forget if the other windows have wood blocks as the bottom stops.  Thanks, Young Ed for the offer of metal stops. but I'm not going to take the doors apart again (I hope). 

 

Oh, the roof rack has wood slats.  About time to re-varnish them.  

[Don Coatney]

Time for some picturtes