Inoperable sunroof and wind noise issue.....*now with new half banana donkey ingenious possible solution.....

[Francis K]

Hi all, bought this 2007 LC for my mom a few weeks ago just getting her all buttoned up. I was hoping to get some guidance and advice in regards to this issue with the sunroof.

The sunroof is busted, I don't think I need to go into detail about that it just is what it is.....maybe in the future I'll try to tackle that issue. I was able to remove the 4 screws on each side and pop it off to clean the drains which appears to have solved the leaks and also shin etsu'd the rubber but the issue now is wind noise. I've attached a picture of how it is currently seated, unfortunately this was the best I could get it to sit which is not really sealed well at all you can see it's pretty open in the back corners. If I have it sitting where it's sealed better then the 4 screws don't line up, how it is seated now is the closest I can get. Before I bust out the silicone I'm curious if anyone has dealt with this issue before, is there anything I can do or adjust to seat it better so that it doesn't sound like I'm driving through a wind tunnel on the highway?

Thank you sincerely for any help!

 

[leveeguy]

Yea its sitting way to low in the rear for sure. ive never removed this glass so im unsure what could have happened but is there anyway the glass is installed backwards possibly? Were there any spacers involved when the glass was removed you noticed? Seems something is missing that would elevate the glass slightly in the rear.

 

[Francis K]

Yea its sitting way to low in the rear for sure. ive never removed this glass so im unsure what could have happened but is there anyway the glass is installed backwards possibly? Were there any spacers involved when the glass was removed you noticed? Seems something is missing that would elevate the glass slightly in the rear.

I agree, I didn't see any spacers I was thinking that maybe whenever the cables decided to stop working that it wasn't popped up all the way and just stopped like that so now that's how it sits. I didn't even think of it being installed backwards, but if I flipped it that would just mean that the other side would then be too low wouldn't it?

 

[leveeguy]

https://forum.ih8mud.com/resources/2006-land-cruiser-repair-manual-rm0010u.267/download

Check out this repair manual, its for 2006 but should apply to your 2007. Look at page 136 there's some details about adjusting the glass. Good luck

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Was it sitting flush before you removed it?

 

[Francis K]

Was it sitting flush before you removed it?

No it wasn't, I've removed it more than once trying to tinker with it and this was the best I could seat it. If I seat it where it's flush the 4 screws don't line up.

 

[dbfw]

There is a ramp in the cable mechanism that raises the rear edge flush when it is in the fully closed position. The problem is the cables must be stuck just shy of that position, so the rear hasn't raised up to where it should be. Does it move at all, or try to or is it fully frozen? If it's fully stuck, and it was my truck, I'd bite the bullet and pull the headliner and replace the cables, or at least try to unjam them enough to fully close the roof. IMO anything else you do at this point is a bodge.

 

[Francis K]

There is a ramp in the cable mechanism that raises the rear edge flush when it is in the fully closed position. The problem is the cables must be stuck just shy of that position, so the rear hasn't raised up to where it should be. Does it move at all, or try to or is it fully frozen? If it's fully stuck, and it was my truck, I'd bite the bullet and pull the headliner and replace the cables, or at least try to unjam them enough to fully close the roof. IMO anything else you do at this point is a bodge.

Fully frozen unfortunately, I'm going to tackle it in the spring. I'm a half banana mechanic at best but there is a lot of info, pics and videos here on mud and I think I can get it done.

 

[Malleus]

I'd try a hair dryer, or better yet, if you can get your hands on one, a heat gun, to try to loosen up the old grease in the cable guides.

Try squirting some silicone spray into the guides, if you can see an opening into them (you may not, depending on how/where the mechanism is stuck). This isn't the right lubricant to use, but it's fairly heat tolerant and it won't make your problem any worse than it already is.

 

[Francis K]

Alright so I did some tinkering tonight I think I may have come up with a couple avenues to get it to sit flush but I need some help as to how I can get it done from those are less of a donkey bear than myself. I do plan to eventually fix it correctly in the spring so I would prefer to not resort to silicone or gorilla tape something like that, really if I can just raise it up it should be good to go for now.....so I tried a few things.


See pics labeled A and B for references

You can remove the sunroof glass one of two ways, either remove 4 nuts from the screws in picture A which attach the glass to the 4 brackets leaving the brackets on the truck or remove the 8 screws, 2 on each bracket, as seen in picture B which attach the brackets to the truck removing the glass with the brackets still attached to the glass. It's much easier to remove the 4 nuts (A) that screw into the glass leaving the brackets on the truck, just stating that for anyone in the future.

The brackets (B) have a small amount of adjustability so first thing I tried was to screw them in while they were at their highest adjustment, this did very little to raise it into place unfortunately. The bracket would need to be much longer for this method to work.

Then I said maybe I can put some washers as spacers between the glass and brackets instead which will raise it. Unfortunately the screw (A) is too short to add more than two washers and even at only two you are screwing in a very short amount of the bolt which is dangerous. Although I will say that adding only those two washers did raise it a good amount, but I don't need my moms sunroof flying off on the highway.

I then thought maybe I can remove and replace the screw in (A) with something longer which will allow me to add more spacers, unfortunately it doesn't appear it is removable from the assembly.



So the way I see it I have two options to raise the glass, I can either extend the brackets (B) or extend the screw (A). I don't like the idea of extending the brackets I feel like that would be a rickety fix with extra variables it just wouldn't be as solid or easy as extending the screw. Now mind you I don't know s*** about fabricating, welding or anything like that, I need to do this as jackass (me) proof as possible. Apparently there is such a thing as a bolt extender, a coupler nut....who knew (not this donkey), there is also a lot of room in where the bracket meets the screw so it wouldn't be an issue if the screw were wider to fit. So what I need to do now is figure out which size I need to make the screw longer, it's a 10mm nut on there......can anyone point me in the right direction here? Is it as simple as just a 10mm coupler nut?


Thank you sincerely from your resident Donkey Bear Jackwagon.

 

[Francis K]

I'd try a hair dryer, or better yet, if you can get your hands on one, a heat gun, to try to loosen up the old grease in the cable guides.

Try squirting some silicone spray into the guides, if you can see an opening into them (you may not, depending on how/where the mechanism is stuck). This isn't the right lubricant to use, but it's fairly heat tolerant and it won't make your problem any worse than it already is.

Okay I will give that a shot thank you....

 

[Malleus]

Love the avatar, BTW

Hope that helps.

 

[dbfw]

I was thinking the same as your coupler nut strategy. I’m not sure what the thread pitch is, but if you take one of the nuts to the hardware store, they usually have a thread size tester there. You’ll probably have to guess and check a bit, but some measurements may help you figure out how much you need to extend.

If your cables are stuck as bad as mine were, there’s no way you’re getting them to move with a heat gun and spray lube. I had to wail away on mine with a big hammer to get them to move and that was with the assembly outside the truck.

You’re on the right track and just come back in the spring if you need help with the cable replacement!

 

[Malleus]

all the cool kids are doing it

 

[Malleus]

Not to rain on your revelation, but...

I'd recommend you try to get the cables loose. There's not a lot of distance that you need to move the rear end upwards, and I'd bet it's less than the thickness of a jam nut, which is far thinner than a coupler.

Spraying lubricant into the guides (regardless of what you use) after you heat them isn't going to hurt anything, long term, if your goal is to remove the assembly in a couple of months and clean it properly.