Builds 93 80 Beater.

[darwink1]

Got a crap load of bushings sitting in the garage. Ended up spending 560$ on the bushings/front end hardware/window runs, 80$ for the rear link hardware, and 90$ shipped for the regulators.

Front end/sway bar bushings and hardware.

Rear link bushings and hardware.

Window regulators and runs.

Now I just have to bolt it all to the van man.

D

 

[series 3 guy]

Dude...Hate to say it....but I recon your falling love with the cash your spending on her. It's o.k you can admit it.

 

[retrofive]

Nice little delivery of parts.

Cracks me up this is the "beater" thread, and you've overhauled your "beater van" more than most will do with their "flagship" ownership.

 

[darwink1]

yeah yeah....

D

 

[greentruck]

The ride will be that much sweeter when the chill winds can't blow through so easily and the windows work slick.

 

[89s rule]

Please take pics of the window work, our windows stink in winter and rain and I want to see/know how the world to get them fixed. The wife is a little agitated at them as well, esp when its freezing and they wont go up for the 10-15 mile ride home!

 

[Land Speeder]

our windows stink in winter and rain

febreeze

 

[hawaiicruz]

You're windows are gonna be like new, all I did was new runs and clean and relube regulators, and they were 100% faster

 

[darwink1]

Yeah I plan on taking pics since I havent had luck finding very many on here. Didnt really know what window runs actually looked like till I got them lol.

Im just waiting on my buddy Pete the electrical wizard to have some spare time. Hes handy as hell when it comes to interior work and with his help the job usually takes half the time.

Funny thing is the drivers window works better than the ps now..... Well for the 2" I dare to lower it goes up 3x as fast.

D

 

[darwink1]

Well we got the ds and ps front windows done today.

Heres a vid to show what was going on before we took it apart.



Getting the door panel off is pretty straight forward. Remove the arm rest then remove the 2 screws hidden behind it. Remove the triangle trim that covers the side view mirror bolts. Remove 1 screw on the back side of the grab handle then the 1 screw that holds the door handle trim. Hold the latch open to remove said trim.

All that is left is to remove the door panel. Its held in with plastic plugs and you can just pull around the edges and/or use a flat screw driver to pop it off.

At this point we took apart the master switch panel and checked it out. The contacts were ok but the power plug had some corrosion on it so we cleaned that up.

We then reconnected the switch to enable us to move the window up and down. This is necessary to access the 2 bolts that hold the window to the track.

This is the rearmost bolt, the front one can be seen with the window down more through another hole in the door.

Front hole/bolt

We then slid the window up and out of the door. We let the front of the window drop and turned the glass on end to get it out.

We removed the 6 bolts that hold the regulator assy's in place, undid the power plug and removed them.

Took apart the ds reg "gearbox" and found that a c clip had rusted away. This c clip held a small steel axle in place inside a large plastic gear. When it rusted away it allowed the axle to shift stripping the big plastic gear as well as the smaller steel gear mounted on said axle. That was the gear stripping sound in the 1st vid.

We Pulled the old window runs next. This was easy and we just grabbed the run at the bottom of the door and literally pulled it out. Install was easy as well, just clip the new run in and use a small flat screw driver to seat the edges. Very simple.

We installed the new regulator and the window, tested it, then reassembled the whole deal. Now the window works like this.



Way frickin better than before.

Hope this helps all the ppl hesitating to tackle this job. Its straight forward and makes a world of difference.




I also had time to touch up some shoddy body work but thats boring. Maybe some slider work tomorrow.......

D

 

[greentruck]

A little hard to see there at the end, but sounds 500% better. Should be an inspiration so that others don't have to put up with a window that just doesn't work.

 

[yoopercharged]

I took some measurements of the carrier for whoever is interested. Theyre rough but should be enough to get goin.

From pivot to pivot it measures 26.5" (outside edges)
The tube w 2 bends that joins the uprights is 22.5"
The uprights, including bends are 32" long
The uprights, from pivot to bend are 12"
Uprights bent at approx. 84*

All tabs and gussets are 1/4" thick.

Main pivots are "builders kits" from DIY4x4.

License plate light is from canadian tire and is hooked up to the trailer harness.

If there are any more questions feel free...

D

I really like the rear bumper. Looking to do something similar on mine, even though it's just a DD. It looks like the site is diy4x.com. I can only assume it is, because they sell the finger gussets. I didn't see the builders kit, but I found a Fabricator's set (type 1 & 2) which look like shackle bushings. Did you use basic tabs for the hinges? I'm looking for a little more detail into the swing design. Ever make it over to the UP of Michigan?

 

[darwink1]

Been to MI once when I was young... Went to Mackanac (sp?) island on the hydrofoil.... and thats all I remember lol.

Two of the fabricator's sets is what I used along with the 1/4" tabs. 4 tabs for the main pivot and 6 for the hitch pins. 4 tabs on the carrier scissor with 2 on the bumper and a hitch pin is threaded through to keep the carrier upright. You can make these details out in the picture above.

D

 

[yoopercharged]

I can't say that I blame you. You have prostitutes and better beer. Not to mention good health care, in case something from the previous sentence goes wrong. What is holding the carrier from hitting the ground in the last picture? Is the center tube of the carrier contacting the receiver?

 

[darwink1]

Yup, thats the way it worked out. I wrapped a thick DH mountain bike inner tube around the tube to act as a cushion of sorts and to keep the paint on. Works great and it has no problem supporting my weight (220lb) in the down/up position.

I guess the only draw back would be clearance when pulling a trailer which I dont really ever do.

D

 

[yoopercharged]

Good point. My hitch is about a 5" drop, so I think it'll be ok. I don't tow much at all, but it is a nice option to keep open. I wonder if I could use a hitch pin instead of the bolt on the lower bushings for easy removal (not that it takes too long to remove two bolts).

 

[darwink1]

My buddy needed his "bender" back so I was motivated to bend up the kickouts for the never ending slider project this afternoon. Surprisingly enough they turned out half assed.

Not professional by any means but I think I can make them work.

A shot of the professional tube bender.....lol

Now I have to figure out what to use to make the struts from the main slider tube to the kickout. Tube or 1.5x3"? Kind of testing them both out in the pics.

D

 

[darwink1]

Well, good news is I made some progress on the sliders today. Bad news is I had a brake line blow as I was backing the van out of the garage after working on the sliders.

Hard line went on the ds inner frame rail and the pedal went to the floor. Its leaking right where it passes through the retainer clip that holds it to the frame and both lines are rusty there. Gonna have to go to the parts store tomorrow, pick up some brake line and see if I can manage a fix. Im really not looking forward to it but hey at least it blew in the garage. Could have been on the road.............

Heres the slider update.

Have to make a couple supports to run between the main slider tube and the kickout and more importantly figure out how the hell Im gonna do the front ps outrigger. Dammit the cats make things a pain in the ass.

Thats the story.

D

 

[greentruck]

Yep, those cats are in a tender spot. But they're another good reason to have the sliders on and you'll be glad you did 'em.

Damn, you remind me of my grandpa with your fabbing skills. He was a union miner, too, gone but not forgotten.

 

[darnold87]

Looking good! Here's how my front PS slider / Cat guard turned out: (removable for servicing the cats)