This is great. There aught to be stuff like this with pics in the Wiki? @Owen Snell is there right way to get the glass out of the frames to start with?
Place top and bottom bars in position and get the screws started. Do not tighten, as you will just bend the bars.
I meant to do a full description of the window refurb, but just never got round to it ......... Removal is easy - undo screws and remove the frame sections, being very careful not to bend the long sides of the frames. Just ease them off.
Use wood clamps and a length of suitable side strip wood to allow you to clamp on the lower frame piece without damaging it. I used 3 clamps.
our slider one rattles like buggery so it need to come apart at some stage. For now I've wired the louvres together
1st clamp on near 1 end. Just fitted with very gentle pressure. You can just see the wood packer for the clamps.
3 clamps fitted gently. Then tighten them up a little and 'walk' the clamps down the length of the frame. Just do a little at a time and walk the clamps back and forth. Tighten the end screws as you go, but don't use them to pull the frame together. The screws act as guides to keep it all lined up right. Don't over tighten the frame - they can bow inwards in the middle if you do, then you have to ease them back. Note - all done on an old towel, so no marking of the frame or glass.
I did most of how you did it with the screwdriver and block of wood, Didn't use clamps as was worried about breaking the glass!!
I know this shows the seal fitted, but don't do that until the end. Once the screws are all tight, the frame is in position.
Then finish seating the seal all round with a screwdriver and a block. Sometimes it goes nicely with the screwdriver, sometimes needs a tap to get it to seat right.
Job done. I reckon strip down, polish (most time) and rebuild took me 40+ hours each window. Would have been a lot less with a high power polisher!
Thankyou. Great info.. Did you have to attack the mechanism at all. Is it all pretty self explanatory when you get the bits apart?
I found it pretty self explanatory although I stripped one side cleaned and polished it, Then up it back together using the opposite side as refernce. @Owen Snell what did you replace the original rivet bits with? I just used a 4mm rivet but it wasn't exactly the same as what I drilled out. Hope it lasts!!
Ah mine was the opposite way round all the screws were good but the rivets were rusted up, The ones that hold the side mechanisms on.
The mechanism was OK. I think gearboxes are available now, if yours is knackered (may be if rattling). When you pull the sides off the frame, the cross bar just drops out. It would be easier to mark the position, as it can go back in either way (as I had to work out at the end). If you do one window at a time, the other is always there as a reference. If my van had been on the road, I would have probably bought a used window, done that, swapped it out, done the next one, swapped that and then sold the final one removed to get the money back. The van is never without a window then.
