window on the '59 won't go up or down.
 

I rolled down the drivers side window manually today and now it is stuck. I noticed as I was lowering it that it wouldn't go back up but I thought by lowering it I might clear a jam or something. That didn't work. Can't move it an inch now. I took off the trim and door panel and access plates but cant find any sash retaining screws the book says I need to remove so I can remove the window assembly. Can't move the window up or down to access them I think. Really not even sure where they are and I'm looking at the Corvette Service Guide and the '59 Assembly manual. Any idea what Plan B should be? Also, I'm in central Fl. and wouldn't mind taking it some place and getting it fixed if I need to.

Window stops?
 

There are 4? window stops at the very top of the window opening, that limit how far the window goes up. They adjust up/down and in/out. Take a light and look through the glass to the other side and see if they are hanging up on the glass frame. You can try to spead the window opening a little and see if frees up the window/frame.

Check for previous posts, there are a few of them out there describing the arrangement. Simple adjustment will fix it once you can get to it.



Go to Corvette Central catalog, search for window stop kit, it shows the layout.

I checked there. No problem. I'm searching the C1 forum some more but I didn't find anything before I posted earlier. I'll dig harder. Just seems like the regulator is hung. I soaked everything in WD40 but that just made a mess. Aaargh.

It sounds like the window is binding. You could have a broken spring on the regulator, but you should still be able to raise it. There are four nylon "wheels" in tracks, inside the door. One is at the front, facing outboard, and attached to the bottom of the window track. There are two of them in the main window "lift" track, parallel with the glass, at the bottom, and facing inboard. The last one is in a curved track attached to the door with two phillips head screws, and facing inboard. If the wheels are broken, or frozen, that could cause the problem. Try grabbing the top edge of the window, push it forward against the post, and turn the crank. Also look for each of the wheels, and make sure that they are still in the tracks. Worst case is to remove the entire assembly......but, you have to be able to lift the glass to do that. You really don't want to get one of those windows "stuck" at the bottom. Try moving the glass fore and aft while you try to crank it, and it should break loose. Good luck.

Mike Coletta

Everything looks ok that I can see inside which isn't much. No amount of lifting and tugging did any good. Even pried it up a little from the bottom with the big screwdriver while trying to turn the handle. If memory serves me it is clockwise to raise it on the drivers side. Sucker is stuck.

dont use a big screwdriver. You might be able to free it by removing the screws holding the guides. Then you would need to redo everything. It might be a good idea anyways if you have a binding problem. I am sure it is the stops at the top.

loosened the channels
 

Well I loosened everything in the door, the window channels, window crank assembly and still no movement. Some payback for fixing the air conditioning today with a new compressor, hard lines and dryer. I went to roll up the window to see how cold the it could get recycling the cold interior air and this happens. I even gave it a little blood earlier when I was tightening things. Such is the life of a C1 owner I guess.

You will get no better advice than that given by Mike Coletta...he's bailed me out a dozen or more times on similar issues.

When my '61 windows got stuck I wound up loosening the screws for the rear guide that are in the rear of the door and 'rocking' it back and forth until it freed up. And the stops can certainly jam you up. As indicated it has to be a bum roller or a jammed stop (there are only two stops). See the picture to see the location of the brand new repro stops at the top of my door...

stops out of the way
 

My stops are pulled back and they are really junky. Rubber on one is missing but they are nowhere near my window to hang it up. That happened once on the passenger side years ago an I fixed it so the window didn't go down as far as before the problem. Never had a problem since. I have the back channel screw as lose as possible and I can move things around but I sure can get the crank to turn. I wonder if there is something broken in that assembly. I wish I could get the window out but don't see any way to loosen anything so I can do that. I'm wondering if I take all the screws out of the door I can get the whole assembly out. I doubt it as the regulator needs to be snaked out of the big inspection hole. Just a mess.

The only C1 guy I know down that way is Bill Heron (he owns a '57 with racing history) and I can't say how much he knows about the window stuff...but I'll bet he has some contacts down there. If you PM Toms Silver 60 who posted above (Tom Blount in reality) he has Bill's phone number....I've lost it somewhere....
Bill Heron's forum ID is SebringBill...

sash screws???
 

I think if I can get the window out I could get this solved. According to the 53-62 Corvette Service Guide on page 1-16 I need to remove sash retaining screws. I'm looking at fig. 32 on that page and I just don't see any screws to remove so I can remove the sash brackets from the guide rail. Any help here would be great. I might have to loosen everything inside first to get at the screws as the windows is completely down and probably needs to be an inch or two from the bottom to access the screws in question. Any opinion on this theory would be appreciated.

Shouldn't be that difficult to remove (easy for me to say), the bitch in the whole mess to take apart was getting the regulator out. I must have stared at that thing for hours, before I realized that I needed to take the window crank and slightly roll the window down (or up), once I did that I was able to get the regulator out.

I know you said it wasn't the stops, but when that happens to me 99% of the time the window has been rolled up and over the stops and the stop that should keep it from going too high, now becomes the stop that won't let it crank down.

The sash screws are VERY small screws (two on each bracket) that hold the glass to the roller channel on each end. They could be missing but then you would at least see the holes. Unfortunately, if you can't move the window up or down you can't get lined up through the access holes to see the screws let alone remove them.

If you look at the picture the small metal 'sash' bracket is sticking out and the screw holes (small red arrows) are visible at the lower right of the picture even with front of the U-channel of the rubber drip seal ...and behind the front roller. The rearmost sash bracket is just barely visible to the left of the cove spears on my '61...

Maybe?
 

Guys, if Lab Rat could drill 2 (or 4) small screwdriver shank size holes opposite the the sash screws, and he removed the screws, could he then pull the window out? Just a thought...

Frank, what you doing up at 0530, thought Mike was the only one that did that....

He's on his way over...........I'll get that sucker loose!!!!! I'll post a picture of what was hanging it up.

Mike Coletta

I had a premonition this was what it was going to take. Any bets on how long it takes Mike to do his magic?
I'll say 10 minutes max!:cheers:

Mike, I hope you warned him about all those attack gopher turtles you have for security!

Well he broke my power window loose in just about 5 minutes when it got stuck...I think manual windows might be even quicker.

http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/u...l/IMG_0791.jpg
http://i630.photobucket.com/albums/u...l/IMG_0790.jpg

Anti rattle spring broke, and jammed the clutch/gear. 7 minutes, 48 seconds, from car off, to driving home!!!!!! It's a new record.

Mike Coletta

:woohoo::woohoo::woohoo:
:cheers::cheers::cheers:
:cool::cool::cool:

I'm thinkin it will take more than 7 minutes and 47 seconds for me to reassemble it with replacement parts. Thanks Mike for helping me out. I think he's forgot more about Corvettes than I and many others ever knew. He sure made it look easy. And it only rained on me 4 times coming home.