Window Regulator Fix

80sDweeb

New member
I didn't have the time to hunt down hardware and fabricate a fix for this, so I went for this overpriced but nice looking solution (still far cheaper than the dealer.) Got it on eBay, listed as "1995-2006 DODGE MERCEDES Sprinter window crank motor lift regulator repair kit", it's a brass piece manufactured in Estonia, post needs to be cut off and punched out of the arm, kit includes a replacement bolt and special nut. I hope it arrives soon. $34 with shipping.
 

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SondraRose

New member
I didn't have the time to hunt down hardware and fabricate a fix for this, so I went for this overpriced but nice looking solution (still far cheaper than the dealer.) Got it on eBay, listed as "1995-2006 DODGE MERCEDES Sprinter window crank motor lift regulator repair kit", it's a brass piece manufactured in Estonia, post needs to be cut off and punched out of the arm, kit includes a replacement bolt and special nut. I hope it arrives soon. $34 with shipping.
Excellent find! Thanks so much!
 

Buffdough

New member
Mine went out last night. Got it back to the up position and left the harness disconnected to avoid forgetting and having to remove the door panel again while waiting for the part. I found two replacement kits that look good for ~$30 USD +shipping, but the second kit comes with two.

Found this http://price4.performance-testing.org/index.php?iepc=mercedes+sprinter+motor The page has a link which takes you to an eBay listing, and, if I linked directly, then the link would be no good later on. If needed, search the seller account: "volvonest". Brass replacement with connecting screws.

And also this https://mercedessource.com/store/126-window-regulator-plastic-slide-replacement-kit This one looks a bit more skookum, plus, again, it comes with two! Plastic/polymer block with rivet.

Like many Dodge Sprinter parts, they are identical to Mercedes sedan parts, but without a part number they cannot be searched by make/model. That said I will have to order before confirming it fits. I'm going with the second option from MS, since it's a plastic like the factory part. I don't like changing up engineered designs, since things are usually done for a reason. It could be designed to fail to prevent damage to the glass or actuator. Saw one vid of a guy bending the arm towards the glass and back on the slide track; metal to metal. Cool for a pinch, but when it comes off again the arm will scratch the glass. Me thinks the YouTube bendy dude isn't planning on ordering the part and will leave it like that. I thank him for his video, since it helped me. Again, I did exactly as he did minus the bending part, and left the window in the up position; I don't see it coming off as long as I'm not running it up and down, which is why I left the harness off to avoid a headache.

I will update if the MS part doesn't fit.
 

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PATECO

Member
Well this thread just saved me, my window dropped and I discovered the broken guide clip. Called dealer and they dont sell just the plastic guide, they wanted $350 for the entire mechanism. Now I undertstand why they dont sell the plastic guide, as it cant be installed...what a poor design.

Thanks for all the excellent info in this thread and especially the link above I was able to 3D print the part. I then used a hybrid of all the techniques here. I drilled out the exiting post and replaced it with a 1/4 x 1 carriage bolt, a washer and nut...O and some locktite. I then used a dremmel to shave off the excess, added some grease and its now like new.

Thanks everyone for sharing.

Here is the results:
https://youtu.be/QNMZ6-q4Z6M

I currently have the shower door roller fix in my passenger door. Mine was a ball bearing roller, but a little too large for the track. I put a bolt and washers through it and chucked it into my drill press, Then used sandpaper on the spinning drill press to make it smaller.

If my other one goes I will see about using the 3D printer file at one of my local maker spaces to reproduce the part. I also think my local Lowes has a 3D printer kiosk that you can pay for time on.

Lowe's Introduces In-Store 3D Printing for Customized Products & Outdated Replacement Parts
 

80sDweeb

New member
I found this to be an excellent fix for my window. It's $30 but a very straight forward fix. Took me 15 minutes to remedy my falling down window. You just need to drill out the old pin that holds the failing/broken plastic insert.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1995-2006-...ash=item544e415bfd:g:1pMAAOSw4-hZqv~j&vxp=mtr
I used this kit, but while installing it, the screw stripped out in the other piece. I left it, hoping for the best, and now, about 2 months later, my window disappeared yesterday. I expect I'll find the screw backed out and fallen off. What do you call the type of hardware the screw goes into? I'll need to find another one, hard to search if you don't know what they're called...
 

220629

Well-known member
... What do you call the type of hardware the screw goes into? I'll need to find another one, hard to search if you don't know what they're called...
The correct term for the bolt/nut set escapes me. Barrel or truss nut may get you to a general search area. "Chicago Screws"

Depending upon diameter and length, a possible alternative might be to use a pop rivet. To avoid lockup I have pulled pop rivets up to where needed, stop, release the tool, and then snip off the pull nail with side cutters.

:2cents: vic

Added:
Maybe flush nut?
https://www.google.com/search?q=flu...-r9HZAhWR2VMKHWyICk0QsAQI0wE&biw=1366&bih=637

Which led me to this.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00355AN4...Uz&pd_rd_r=AZC7JCVE2E39BTQ2Q87A&pd_rd_w=xoVQs
 
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Rover

New member
I just installed one of the brass goodies from ebay, mentioned above.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1995-2006-...ash=item544e415bfd:g:1pMAAOSw4-hZqv~j&vxp=mtr

I did not have to remove the regulator. I just drilled out the stud from the arm. Then slid the brass part into the channel & lined up the hole & inserted the screw.
THEN... I had to use a little dental-pic type tool to reach around to the back of the brass part and hold the nut in place while I tighten it up. The screw comes with locktite already on it!

I guess I'll buy another one for the passenger side door - it's sure to fail while I'm on vacation!
 

ohlsonmh

Grumpy Member
I didn't have the time to hunt down hardware and fabricate a fix for this, so I went for this overpriced but nice looking solution (still far cheaper than the dealer.) Got it on eBay, listed as "1995-2006 DODGE MERCEDES Sprinter window crank motor lift regulator repair kit", it's a brass piece manufactured in Estonia, post needs to be cut off and punched out of the arm, kit includes a replacement bolt and special nut. I hope it arrives soon. $34 with shipping.
After reading a lot of things here & on Youtube, we just bent the arm toward the outside of the door - it's pretty springy so we put a block of wood behind it & then used a pipe-wrench for leverage and bent it so that it holds the stud in the window-bottom track where the broken plastic slide used to be. The window rides up & down on the stud, rather than a 'fancy' slide.

Works great. No cost. Hardest part was getting the door panel back on.

-Oly
 
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Yesterday I got around to installing the Ebay ordered window piece and thought twice about drilling out the little stud piece on the operating arm. I took the suggestion to bend the arm slightly so the remaining stud would stay in the channel. Voila!

I raised and lowered the window a few times and it works. I will keep the Ebay piece in case that little stud piece fails, but for the time being it is fixed thanks to this forums members.

It is a shame that the Ebay ordered piece could not be matched with the stud on the operating arm. The hole in the Ebay ordered piece was too small to incorporate the stud on the operating arm that would have needed to be drilled out. It is nice to not have to use some thin shims to hold the window glass up.

Thanks to all here.
 

Buffdough

New member
[...]And also this https://mercedessource.com/store/126-window-regulator-plastic-slide-replacement-kit This one looks a bit more skookum, plus, again, it comes with two! Plastic/polymer block with rivet.

I will update if the MS part doesn't fit.
Ok, so the Mercedes Source part mentioned definitely does not fit; it is WAY too big. Even if you took a Dremel tool to it to fit, the bushing extension for the rivet is still too large. :yell:

Since I had the door panel off and want instant solutions, being that I'm a microwave era baby, I gave it a whirl with stuff laying around my shop.

shows everything I used. The white disk is a 1/2" I.D. nylon washer and, for posterity, the zip-tie is 0.180" in width.

this is a close up of it in place. The 1/2" I.D. center is large enough to slip over the rivet, but still isn't snug enough. The zip-tie act as a spacer to keep it towards the end; hopefully jamming it in place. I simply cut the edges off the washer to make flats, so it fit snuggly in the rail. I put the zip-tie on and just pressed the contraption back onto the rail. I needed the awl to coax the washer to snap into place.

Here's a mock-up of what's going on, since the previous image may not be clear to untrained eyes.

Once again, I will report back when this fails. This clearly is not a permanent solution, but I have a feeling it will surprise me and hold up longer than I expect. As long as I'm not rubbing metal on metal, then I'm happy. With how smoothly and easily this did the trick, I really don't care if I have to do it again in 6 months. :thumbup:

Cheers lads :cheers:
 

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swtdir

New member
To fix the broken plastic piece (both window lifts) I used a thick metal washer (about 1/16") to roll inside the slot channel. The fix was to grind and file down this washer and add a 7/16" snap ring clip to hold the washer on the shaft. To roll inside the slot, the washer is some 0.645" diameter and it needs a 27/64 hole to go over the nub at the end of the short shaft. Simple, zero cost from the scrap box if you have those two parts. The trick, since snap ring pliers will not fit inside the slot, is to brace the snap ring open with a small piece, slip it over the nub to hold the washer in place and pull the piece out.
 

vanski

If it’s winter, I’m probably skiing..
jmoller strikes again... the best thing about his solution is you don't need to remove the regulator at all. you can simply take the regulator circle/pin out of the rail, put the aluminum slide around the pin, and then carefully work it back into the window rail. :thumbup:
 

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cacaw

Well-known member
After reading a lot of things here & on Youtube, we just bent the arm toward the outside of the door - it's pretty springy so we put a block of wood behind it & then used a pipe-wrench for leverage and bent it so that it holds the stud in the window-bottom track where the broken plastic slide used to be. The window rides up & down on the stud, rather than a 'fancy' slide.

Works great. No cost. Hardest part was getting the door panel back on.

-Oly
We were just about to leave on a trip and my window dropped down and wouldn't raise. Found the video on YouTube https://youtu.be/y5EgvTVdIa4 and thought that the Sprinter Forum must have a simpler fix than going to the trouble of bending the arm. :)

Thinking about trying a zip tie to hold the two halves of the plastic piece in place. And bending the arm. If I can't get a zip tie in there easily, then just the bent arm.

Edit: got it done with a small zip tie around the plastic piece that broke. But after bending the arm, the zip tie is superfluous - the arm is now pressing tightly into the track on its own accord and there's no way it's going to come out of the track.
 
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Buffdough

New member
Did you get the part from MS?
Yes I did, and the MS part definitely does NOT fit. The rivet itself is almost larger than the track, so you couldn't even Dremel down the part to fit. The picture is misleading.

Good news is my fix is still holding up as hokie as it looks.
 

syncro_G

Member
That brass Ebay part looks nice though I'd prefer to use a shoulder bolt because I think it would be stronger. The price has gone up into the $40's but is still cheaper than spending a bunch of time making a part like I did but I didn't want to wait so I decided to have a go at it - this took maybe two hours from the moment the window dropped on me (while prepping for a trip) and getting it all back together.

(I attached pictures but not sure how to make them display in line)

I started with a scrap of 1/2" HDPE panel.
Trimmed it to width (roughly 16mm) on my table saw

Then setting up my router table with a 1/8" cove bit and a couple different guide bushing, I was able to create a 1/4" bull nose profile. effectively making a "T" shape where the wings of the "T" are half round. I made enough "stock" to make three sliders (in case I make mistakes along the way)

In my drill press, I drilled countersunk holes - Here I happened to have a square bottom countersink bit that was metric but close enough.
first, I drilled a guide hole that matches the countersink, then countersink the holes. Once it was at the right depth, I drilled out the guide hole to match the bolt shoulder.

I chose a 10-24 shoulder bolt (machinist grade) that happened to be in my parts bucket.

Once I was happy with the washer, bolt and nut selection, I drilled an access hole in the regulator track - You'll notice I wrote on the door where to align the lift arm in order to access that bolt head again.

Cleaned out the track, bolted everything up, used medium loctite and re-greased the track. works great!
 

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timothy s

New member
to fuzzyjohn. I am new to the forum, pictures of the fix available, I am having sameproblem with window regulator fix, I got the Cadillac window glides,

thanks for your reply
 

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