Replacing Nylon Window Guides - not holding window up

[Tom Bray]

I replaced the broken nylon window guides on the big front window after I fixed the rivet problem and put on new weather stripping. See the thread:
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f454...nge-42648.html

I made sure the the guides went in at the same location (I marked the top edge of the old guide on the frame and matched them up on both sides that way).

The problem is that they don't seem to want to hold the window operator in place. The left side is quite prone to slipping out and then the right side follows suit soon after. This is sitting the the garage so there isn't any wind to speak of.

I did notice that the guide flexes a little bit under the stress of the window which is probably what is causing the problem. Also the guides are quite slippery compared to the old ones. The other potential problem is that the left and right guides may not be exactly the same so that the one side (left) is a bit higher now, if it is it isn't by any significant amount and the window flex seems to mask it.

Has anyone else had this problem? Is this a common problem with the very heavy front window (the old guides were broken so we never used it)? Any suggestions?


Tom Bray

[Tom Bray]

I just figured out what the problem was with the guides. The original (probably not original) guides were put in upside down on the front window. All the other windows on the AS have them installed upside down relative to the front window. I very carefully matched everything up when I did it too.

What is confusing is that the guides are marked L and R and I put the R on the right side from inside the trailer ... apparently the right way is for the R to be on the outside right (or something like that).

I guess I will try swapping them and see how it works then, probably much better.

Tom Bray

[Lumatic]

Where did you get them? What is the part number? Are they the replacement brown ones? My window guides on my 71 are living on borrowed time. I will follow this thread to see how they work out. Thanks

[Aerowood]

Marshall, I just bought a bunch of them from Inland RV at about 7.25 each, they are brown. They were the cheapest I could find. Not to bad but I needed 6 pair as everyone was broken.
P/N 34855 L/H
P/N 34869 R/H

As viewed from the outside

Kip

[Tom Bray]

I think I also bought mine from Inland. They are a black nylon.

They are very close to the originals but not exactly.

I found that I can line up the 2 rivets on the bottom, the one above that is close enough that I can use a drill and adjust the hole in the plastic. The top one ends up needing a new hole.

If I start at the top, none of the other holes line up after the top one.

I am wondering if I should have use the hole on the top as a starting point. The bottom notch on the window doesn't actually hold open the window. Of course I have no clue whether or not they did originally since all th bottom slots are broken on all the windows.

Tom Bray

[Aerowood]

I don't think that it really matters which hole you start with as long as the holes on both sides are at the same location dimensionally from the top or bottom. I,m putting mine in tomorrow and my relocate them for the best lower window open position for me.