The story is that the passenger window started to make a clicking noise when rolling back up about 6-7 months ago, so I stopped using it. About a month ago my mom rolled down the window, which I forgot to tell her not to
, so as soon as she rolled it back up all we hear is loud crack and the window is stuck half way. So I pushed it up to the closed position and that held for the drive home.So what happened is the cable had been loose for some time now which allowed the cable to get out of the grooves on the drum, thus the cable started rubbing against the hard edges on the drum cover. The cable was was totally destroyed around the drum to say the least, sorry no pictures of that. The snap noise we heard was the top guide break in two because the cable frayed parts of the cable were bound up in the mechanism.
What me and my dad ended up doing was taking the whole thing apart, which requires a drill with drill bit to remove the metal that pressure fit the drum cover, and a bench grinder. The hardest part was manufacturing the guide, but really if you are desperate enough you can do it. All it took was a hacksaw, a file, a drill, and a vise to make this thing. The aluminum that we used to make it cam from a cheap meat tenderizer that we would never use anyway, so we put it to good use. After that it is just drilling a hole in the post that held the guide to fit a screw and nut.
The original cable system used just one cable, with a welded block in the middle to apply force to the sliding mechanism, and welded blocks on the ends for securing in the drum. I ended up using two derailleur bicycle cables we had laying around, some alluminum cable crimps, and screw with a hole drilled in it to secure the cables to the slide. The lift cable is fixed to the slide with the crimp. The lower cable has tension adjustment by drilling a hole in the slide and putting a screw in that has a hole in it near the head. Then threading the cable through the hole in the screw, we would tension the cable and tighten down the the screw which forces the cable against the slide so it wont budge. I know this is all confusing but if you look at the pictures it will make more sense.
If anyone wants a simple guide of how I did it I can write it and post it with drawings of the block and basic steps of how to manufacture it.
I had to make changes due to the slide hitting the block after installing it the first time. So i filled the block down to about half of the original thickness, and flipped the screw so the head is on top of the block. Also I originally had the tension adjustment on the lift cable, but because the slide goes quite far up the track it would work, so I made the bottom cable adjustable; the slide doesn't go very far down, at lest not far enough to hit the screw.
Just a note, the total cost of this repair would be about $10, including cables, bolts/nuts, and screws so not bad huh. I could buy a used one online but it could have the same problem($75).
