Not sure if this has been posted, tried searching and could not find for the older trucks 80-96. At least I think that is the years with this common power window (P/W) motor design. The same P/W motor is also used on many Ford cars.

On my 88 F-250, the driver's power window motor had the infamous "motor running, but window does not move" problem. Don't buy a new P/W motor, the fix is easy to do if you have basic mechanical skills and save yourself money.

The root cause is the small plastic rollers inside the P/W motor drive that disintegrate. These connect the motor to the gear that operates the window regulator. The motor runs, but it does not turn the gear. The rollers are supposed to be the weak link in the design, but they are too weak and fail very common. Once they fail, the motor can not transfer power to the gear, motor runs but the gear does not turn.

No pictures, but the fix is easy to explain. Remove the door panel and remove the P/W motor. P/W motor has three bolts that hold it in place, you may need to drill an access hole for the third bolt. Unplug the wiring and move motor to a benchtop.

Once you have the P/W motor on the bench, take off the 4th bolt that holds the cover over the gear. Inside you will have a bunch of grease and probably some broken plastic pieces. Those plastic pieces are the rollers that disintegrate. Lift the gear off the shaft. Clean out all the plastic pieces and old grease, once cleaned up you will see there are three areas where the rollers go.

You can buy new rollers on ebay, make your own from metal or wood dowel rod, or here is my solution. I used two 1/4 inch nuts (7/16 hex) in each of the three roller locations - six total. Two nuts was the right height for each hole. Line up the flats so the gear can be put back in. Load it with new grease. Put the cover on and reinstall into the door on your truck.

I had previously used 7/16 wood dowel rod and made wood roller pieces, thinking that they would work and be stronger than the plastic, but these wood rollers eventually failed like the plastic. The 1/4 inch nuts will never fail. You do need to pay a little bit of attention so the switch is not held down and stall the motor. Just let off the switch once it is in full down or full up position.

The total time to fix the motor once on the bench is 10 minutes and the price of six 1/4 inch nuts is way less than buying a new P/W motor assembly or even the replacement plastic rollers. The 1/4 inch nuts were what I found easily that had the right size for the job. You could use anything to replace the rollers that is strong enough to handle the load and not disintegrate.

 

This sounds pretty good, 38Chevy454. While it's of somewhat limited use to most of us (who don't own the earlier models) as is, it's possible that it COULD be extended to more recent trucks.

Could you provide a picture or two to help explain what you did?

- Jack

 

 

Thanks, Steve.

- Jack

 

Thanks for that link Steve, looks like I was not so brilliant the first one to use the 1/4 inch nuts! But that shows the pictures of how the rollers fit into the three locations between the gear and the motor drive.

I also realize most on this forum have the newer 97-up models. But there are some with older models, or those like myself that have both older and newer.