WTB Hen's Tooth Window Regulator

[hooptie]

Hello!

Just came back from the meet up at Woodley Park in LA and had issues with my driver window. I removed the mechanism and motor etc only to find that the alignment on the regulator is off connecting to the larger geared wheel. Upon further inspection I see that the regulator is torqued away from the main gear. Ill try and remove the spindle on the regulator (is this the regulator?) and punch out the body so that it's in alignment. Meanwhile I just wanted to reach out to you kind folks to see if anyone has an extra lying around in a shoebox they'd be willing to give up.

Thanks as always, hope everyone is enjpoying the w/e, tom

PS. My main gear, the large one (about 8" dia) has no spring. Is this unusual? I noticed that the gear is completely round, a full circle, not part of a round gear that Ive seen in the past. Thank you!

 

[hooptie]

Well, looks like I may have fixed the misalignment..I'll reinstall it tomorrow but I see that Im missing the tension spring in the assembly.

 

[Arde]

The part you call regulator we call gearbox .
The window regulator is the larger arm and spring that operates the window converting a circular motion into a linear motion.

What I see in the picture is that the gearbox body is deformed causing the pinion gear to spin in a weird plane. It will never function that way.

I had that same problem with mine and could not fix the body.

My solution was to get a used one. The best and cheapest source for a really good used one is actually to take it from one of your rear windows as they see very little use.

 

[Wladek]

In that case you need to find new gearbox or weld/repair sleeve of your current.
I think new gearbox also woun't last long if the whole windows mechanism woun't be checked thouroughly, as looking on your current gearbox it look like the part was struggling hard - it look like consequence of misaligning, maybe axle of main sprocket of power window mechanism is also bent/worn/misalignined or your window mechanism is so dirty of old grease that work very hard or isn't set properly.

 

[jmackro]

I see that the regulator is torqued away from the main gear. Ill try and remove the spindle on the regulator (is this the regulator?) and punch out the body so that it's in alignment. Meanwhile I just wanted to reach out to you kind folks to see if anyone has an extra lying around in a shoebox they'd be willing to give up.

Personally, I'd just give up on the "sardine can" motor and separate gearbox, and go with motor-gearbox units from an e28. Faster motors, stronger gearboxes. Several threads here, as well as this website: https://sites.google.com/site/kdelimon/windowmotorconversion1 describe how to make this conversion.

My main gear, the large one (about 8" dia) has no spring. Is this unusual? I noticed that the gear is completely round, a full circle, not part of a round gear that Ive seen in the past. Thank you!

In my experience, that coil spring has little effect. Your car no doubt came with springs and some PO probably removed them. They really don't do much beyond getting grease all over you when working on the regulators.

And yes, the gears have teeth around their full circumference, even though they don't make a complete rotation. It does seem wasteful, but BMW wasn't economizing when they built these low-volume cars.

 

[Krzysztof]

...

, but BMW wasn't economizing when they built these low-volume cars.

According to what I experienced, these motors (both types: pre- and facelift) were not designed for E9 and not even for BMW.

They were used in other German car manufacturers that time (e.g. Mercedes) as other electric equipment

 

[Arde]

Personally, I'd just give up on the "sardine can" motor and separate gearbox, and go with motor-gearbox units from an e28. Faster motors, stronger gearboxes.

Or I can drive from Aptos to Monterey and have the sardine can repaired at the famous Cannery Row...

 

[hooptie]

Thank you all for your valuable advice (and humor). I completed a cleaning and regressing of the tracks and the entire mechanism. As a hopeful fix for the gearbox misalignment I carefully pounded the body to correct the angle of the spindle. Reassembled everything and appears to work pretty well. I'm happy to hear that the tension spring isn't that helpful as I opened up the rear window panel but it seemed like a bigger job than I bargained for in swapping them to the front window. Im common to terms with the delicate systems! Thanks again for your advice, its greatly appreciated!