One piece windows are difficult to slide up and down - any tips?

[Martin S.]

My car's one piece windows have been on the car since the 80's when I installed them. Ever since they have been very difficult to roll up and down and very stiff. I thought this was normal but I had another 68 with one piece windows that someone else installed and they were easy to turn the cranks and acted like stock. Does anyone know what I might have done wrong? Anything to check? Someone said it might be the position of the glass on the holder but how can I verify if that is correct?

[Donny B.]

If you have any grease on the regulator (the coil) remove it.  I degreased mine and sprayed it out with carb cleaner then used a dry powder (teflon or similar).  After that it was very easy to crank up and down.

[Martin S.]

Good idea, thanks! 

[dragvw2180]

 Dry graphite is what VW used on the window belt moldings to make the windows not stick , works pretty good .

   

[Nico86]

Dry graphite is what VW used on the window belt moldings to make the windows not stick , works pretty good .

   

Yes, anything dry would be perfect.

Just avoid to put anything that contains silicon, it's a pain in the a** to clean if it goes on your windows. And if one day you want to paint your car it will be awful to get rid of too.

[thehanz DVK]

do you have the right regulators ? the early one's with the two cable's ??

[Martin S.]

I think they are the originals from the 68. I didn't know they needed to be swapped to earlier ones. What year is good?

[56BLITZ]

You DO have the correct regulators!
Remove the door card, operate the window, and look to see where the binding occurs. Then you will need to figure out what needs to be done to eliminate the binding.

[Martin S.]

OK I'll take a look. I have graphite spray to use in the coil regulator tube. I'd hate to disassemble it all to clean it out but might have to. Both windows are equally stiff to operate so I think the problem is improper installation with both windows that I did years ago. Watching my kid try to turn the knob is pure agony when she's trying with the whole body, haha!    

[gkeeton@zbzoom.net]

do you have the right regulators ? the early one's with the two cable's ??

The 65-67 regulators have two mounting points for the channel that holds the glass to allow it to move a little better. I have the one piece windows in my 74 Super, and with the stock single center mounting point of the channel, the glass can tilt forward slightly, and bind. Empi, and Bugpack made the regulators with the dual mounts that could be used with either early, or late window cranks. If you use an actual 65-66 regulator, you'll have to use the early pinned window cranks.