A How To/ All you need to know about window channel/run replacement

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Puddles,

This post was extremely helpful and made the job a lot easier. Thanks for that!

Only thing I would add is that when you pry off the little black plastic triangle trim piece in the front corner of the windshield, don't use a scraper because the plastic will break easier. Use a small metal bar like a tack remover and get under the square mounting point up top on the triangle so you are prying from the bottom of the mounting point, not from the actual trim piece.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks for this post. I picked up the DS window rubber run, was a little intimidated at the thought of ripping out the old one. It literally took me 15 minutes to do. My windows now goes up and down all at the push of a button! No assistance needed. And when I was taking out the old rubber I realized why my window was so slow. Man, that rubber was dry rotted to hell. Thanks a billion for posting this. Made it so much easier and less stressful.
 
Just finished doing mine today and wanted to thank all the posters for putting this up. It helped a ton! The job went very smooth because of all the info here even though I ended up removing both door panels to get at the tracks and clean/lube/adjust the regulators. Took me less than 3 hours and probably would be a 1.5 hr job to do both sides if you've done it before.

One thing I can add to maybe help the next guy though. Since I bought the truck I have had an annoying rattle in the driver's door. Very noticeable when you slam the door shut or on corrugated dirt roads, but not really bad enough to warrant opening up the door to try and fix. Well I put one new motor/regulator and 2 window runs in the front doors of my 95 and found that the rattle was coming from the window track inside the door. On the very bottom of the track closest to the hinge there are two phillips screws (with nuts on the other side) holding the track to a tab inside the door. These had loosened up and the track was rattling around. Tightening these up made my rattle disappear! It's pretty deep in the door so I didn't take any pics, but they are right about an inch from the bottom of the metal C-channel the rubber goes into.

Hope this helps!
 
So, my a bit off subject but how do you know the difference between bad runs and bad window motors? I'm new to working on my 80 but from day one I assumed the window motors were bad. I tried the lubrication process and it did nothing for the cold weather window usage.

On that same note has anyone just tried cleaning the run very well before going to the trouble of replacing them?
 
I pulled one window run cleaned it and used Gummi Pflege on it a couple months ago, it runs a little better than it used to so it kinda helps. Still not great. I haven't replaced/rebuilt a motor yet to see the difference though.
 
I used a silicone spray on my window runs after I replaced the motors with Delco motors, which by the way work great. In combination I haven't had any issues now.

Roll window down half way spray into channel guide roll the window up and down a few times, repeat process. Clean gunk off the glass, make sure all residue is wiped off paint right away it will mess it up.

The motors were not hard to replace either, had to swap the plugs on the front ones and that was about it.

Cheers!
 
I waited a year to do this and should have done it a long time ago. 2 hours start to finish for all four doors and the windows run up and down with normal speed now. I had done the lube and cleaning of the tracks but this made a lot more difference. Anyone with window speed issues, just jump in and do it.

No need to remove any glass, just door cards and vapor barriers for the front (to reach up and grab the new channel to pull it down). The rears were really easy, just pull the old channel out and slide the new one in.

Might have even gone quicker but I kept getting stuck on step 6 :).

Thanks to the OP and all the info on this thread the job was a piece of cake.
 
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A huge thank you to Puddles and Semlin for their posts on how to do the window run replacement on the 80-series Land Cruisers. I have a 1991 HDJ81 (Japanese right hand drive) and was experiencing the super-slow window issue on all of my windows. Purchased the window run replacement kit for $225 from Cruiser Addiction and was off to the races.

Totally worth the effort! I followed the OP's steps exactly and it worked very well.. I have three of the four doors completed. In terms of lessons learned: even though it may not necessary, I went ahead and took the front window glass out (not that difficult at all) to make feeding the new rubber window runs back in much easier. Also, as an added benefit, with the window glass removed I could actually clean the glass itself along its edges (the part of the glass that actually touches the window run). The windows were somewhat dirty along the outside edges, as well as down at the bottom. There's no point in putting in new rubber window runs if your window glass is dirty!

And, like others have found, the 25+ year old window runs down in the door itself were very stiff and rigid...no wonder the windows were so difficult to raise/lower! The rear window run replacement required me to pull the door trim, unfortunately. I was not able to coax the new rubber window run down into the guide like the OP suggests. I had to take the rear door trim off to be able to actually pull from the bottom while moving the window up and down several times. I still have yet to do the other rear door, but will try again to not have to remove the rear door trim if I can help it.

Thanks again! This forum is awesome!!!!
 
Great write up OP! Wish I had found this sooner. Great guide on how to get glass in and out. I Just did my front passenger side and here is the procedure I followed where the window in NOT removed:

1 - My gasket broke at upper rear corner. I got my replacement online, a little more than OP (again, didn't see this thread, errr).

2 - Lower window to about 4" from all the way down, pull out old rubber.

3 - Starting at back of door, spray Windex in the channel slowly (so it doesn't go everywhere) for about a minute. Soak it. Note, I'm in California and did this on a sunny day. Rubber was soft. Also, first I looked down into channel and it was not dirty.

4 - Spray about a foot of the new rubber liberally and start at back of door. I was able to push in about 8 - 10". Keep spraying channel/rubber as you go.

5 - To get the rest in I raised the window about 2", held the rubber channel against the glass and "bumped" the window down. I would get about 1-2" with every bump. Again, keep everything sprayed.

6 - Once back is in a corner matches up, do front. Do not push in the top yet.

7 - No need to remove black trim piece, but its fairly quick. I had window up a little more, held rubber to glass and, after several "bumps", got the rubber to go in fairly easily. I matched up the front "corner" where it slants to the top. THEN...push in the rest of the rubber along the top.

The key is to use a lot of Windex. I went through just over half a bottle. It evaporates and leaves no residue (silicon, grease, etc).

Window goes up/down MUCH quicker.

20 min, done.
 
I still have to do the 3rd row windows - how bad is that. I'm intimidated by the sliding frames
 
hamishpotter said:
I still have to do the 3rd row windows - how bad is that. I'm intimidated by the sliding frames
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The quarter windows are easier than the door windows. Use a set of those pry tools made of plastic to remove them. I bought mine from HF. Be prepared to deal with corrosion on the body and the aluminum window frame. I applied silver Chassis Saver to my frame and rusted body areas. The weather strips and runs are still available. Like every other procedure, following the FSM steps makes the job easy.
 
Bumping this excellent thread. I did both front and rear runs as well as front belt moulding and front driver’s weather barrier today. Didn’t remove any of the glass— but I did pull all the interior door cards. Highly recommend doing this as even with clean door channels and lubricant it’s frustrating to work the rubber in the last 4-6”, but if you get it far enough to where it seems stuck it’s graspable from below. Also gives you an opportunity to inspect your weather barriers and clean out any accumulated debris on the inside of the door cavity that could lead to rust.

I’m doing a little experiment with Silglyde on the driver runs and no conditioner on the passenger to see if there are any benefits.
 
I need to do this
 
I took a chance and got a set of channel runs from ebay (from Thailand):
Door Window Glass Run Channel Felt Seal For Toyota Land Cruiser FJ80 1990-1998 | eBay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/Door-Window-Glass-Run-Channel-Felt-Seal-For-Toyota-Land-Cruiser-FJ80-1990-1998/154187421291?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

There's good and bad on that. Received it very quickly, about a week or so. Fronts fit perfectly, no issues. For installation, I had to take out the glass and fit the trim in the channel by squeezing and pushing it into the channel from the side. Pretty much disassemble and reassemble the door - but that's to be expected.

The rear windows are a different story. For some reason, the upper segment of the rubber trim is about an inch too long! Seller is aware of it, and said that some model land cruisers have a shorter window? (I thought all 80 series rear windows were the same). Anyhow, suggested cutting off the extra and gluing the ends together.

Now the existing rear runners will pull out and go back in with very little fuss. But there's no way I could feed the new ones in more than 3 or 4 inches before everything binds up tight. Even moving the window up, then pushing down on the rubber with the window got no further movement. Maybe the aftermarket runner is thicker than OEM, but for whatever reason - it wasn't going to go in by sliding down (even though that's what the factory manual says to do), and regardless of how much soap water I sprayed.

What I did to finally install was to remove the rear channel (top screw, middle bolt, bottom bolt) guide, remove the rear window. Install the front part of the runner (which I had to cut anyway to shorten) by pinching it and pushing it in the channel top to bottom. Inside the door, there's just enough room where I can work my hand through the door hole and manipulate the rubber into the channel. Then, I installed the window back in, getting the roller into the regulator guide. With the rear channel still out of the door, I put the rear half of the cut rubber runner into the channel, then carefully fed the runner back into the door and window. It's tricky to the get the top in the right position though - I ended up having it an inch too low, and had to pull on the rubber very hard to get to move a few mm each time. At least pulling up was possible, but no way to push it down.

The last part was to add some e6000 glue on the ends of the cut rubber to join them. Now that they were in the channel, it holds everything steady for the glue to set.

Doing the rear was ridiculously more work than the front. And maybe the Toyota OEM runs would have been easier to fit by sliding it in. I'll try windex on the remaining rear window but am not hopeful it'll make much difference.

Anyway, if you go with the Thailand part - that's what you have to look forward to. It'll work, but may not be worth the aggravation.

BZ
 
13 years later, and this post is still perfect. Did my front windows this weekend, and the windows go up and down, all the way! Amazing.
 
I used the Thailand made window rubber on my sons Honda civic. It is my opinion that the Thai runs are not the same quality rubber as the OEM runs. I had trouble getting the runs in and they split in a couple of spots during install. Ended up getting OEM for Honda and I will go OEM for the Landcruiser.
 
Replaced all the glass runs & the trim outside of the windows, replaced the trim on the inside of the front doors.
The rear door inside trim at the top of the door cards are NLA =...[
cleaned and lubed the wheels on the window tracks along with the pivots. ALL windows up & down much quicker and smoother! Very nice, thanks for the write up!
 
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