One Piece Window Kit...

[VileZambonie]

Tonka,

Where do you live? I wonder if anyone is close enough by to give you a hand a fresh set of eyes.

[Tonka]

Thank you Vile! I appreciate that very much.  I have a friend coming by who knows a few things to take a look. He's built some killer rides over the years and is no stranger to fab work like I am. I'm outside Greenville South Carolina.

Doing the drivers side currently and hope it goes a lot smoother. So far it has but my brand new rear window guide track broke before I even stuck it in the door so I am waiting on the vendor to ship out another. The tack welded nut on the back of the middle mount on the track broke off when I began to attach the 4" extension. I noticed the nut had some junk on the threads and I ran a tap through it to clean up the threads. It was welded off center to begin with and poorly at that. I tried JB welding it, let it sit for 4 days and unfortunately the JB weld did not hold. I called the vendor when it happened to let them know that I had yet another issue with their stuff but that I would try and fix it on my own and if I failed I would call them back to get another... 4 days later I begin the install and the JB just doesn't hold the retainer nut. I called the vendor up and they are shipping me out another. Generally they have decent customer service but the quality of their parts is as bad as it gets. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars there and only now have I begun to realize my loyalty to the brand is a waste of time and money. The new door cards I received from them weigh 1/4th as much as the OEM ones I have in the garage (too beat up to use though   )

I had an easier go grinding down the drivers side door hinge nut by using one of Dremels amazing quick disconnect cutoff wheels. Those things are a must own! I cut the nut down with the wheel in about 5 minutes and then took dremels big grinding stone to it and within a few minutes all was well. Reattached that cutoff well and cut the door lock bar in place and didn't even have to remove the lock cylinder. All total that cutoff wheel saved me 3-4 hours already.

No matter how much faster this side goes I still have no clue how to fix the binding or how to adjust the window to fit properly.

[Tonka]

Completed this install today!! RAHHHH!!! The drivers side went a lot easier and I pretty much slapped it together 1,2,3. Total time today was around 5 hours plus 2-3 hours m,w,f.

 Where One Piece Products says to just shave that nut all the way off, what you really need to do is continue grinding and remove a bit more of the inner door hinge area to make that window go up and down easier. Kaos says all doors from 73-87 are the same but I can't imagine that to be the case. These '77 doors are a very tight fit with that one piece glass. We are talking millimeters! Only way to make em fit is to remove a little bit of material at a time from that inner hinge. Grind a little. Drink a little beer. Grind some more. Beer some more. Each time give it a test run. I had my rear door track as far back as it would go. After that the only give has to come from the front of the door area i.e. the hinge.

     I also blue taped the edges of my window frame to prevent scratches during the install of the door panel/inner window scraper. I highly recommend that also. Those rubber window scrapers have very sharp metal inside them at their end point like prison shanks. They will do damage quick so tape up those window frames and in my case I tripled that tape up to ensure it was thick and not going to scratch. The included 3M weatherstrip adhesive is good stuff. It sets up fast. I suggest you ignore Tapia's suggestion to use tape (doesn't work, the rubber scraper will just pop off) and instead use your man mitts and just hold on tight for 10 minutes while listening to conservative talk radio. The news about Obama will be enough to further your anger and ensure a nice strong grip.

This mod is not easy. This mod will make you want to murder people with a 1/2" breaker bar. The instructions are horrible. The instructional video is even worse. Do not murder anyone with the breaker bar. Keep your head about you and plan on doing this incrementally over 1-2 weeks. It cannot be done in speed except painfully slow.

But when it's done... dang does it look sweet!  It's one of those mods that only the serious chevy truck heads would ever notice. The result is a super clean looking cab and windows that bind worse than an old mans digestive tract. 

But dang does it look good!

[VileZambonie]

Glad you're making some forward progress and are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Your pics aren't working.

[zieg85]

They look great!!!  But I'm keeping my wings

[VileZambonie]

Pix are working now. Beauty. How about a side shot?

[timthescarrd]

Capt didn't say all the doors are the same, he said there are two different styles, but they are very similar.  Glad it's workin out for you, if you search around a little, you'll find there are two different thickness of glass were used form the factory, don't remember which years were which but some of the glass was about 1/16th inch thicker than others, so that's probably why you had to do so much more grinding to get it smooth.

[Tonka]

Thanks guys. I'm gonna give it a couple weeks, pop off the passenger side panel and see if I can't make any more room in there. It's not too bad but You do have to watch how the glass seats on the top of the frame. It can go in at an angle so I am thinking the bottom bolts on the window tracks have to be tightened down a bit more.
That and more grinding.

[Captkaos]

I am just now able to get back to the forum, but typically I mark the main holes, mount the pieces and roll the window up/down before grinding anything.  Depending on how much it is hitting and where, I do the hole adjustment first and leave the one bolt out.  If it hits the nut or isn't going up without binding then I grind the nut. 

As for the elongation, it is pretty intuitive on where to elongate the holes.  If it is binding in the front the hole needs to be elongated rearward.  This is the only direction the glass can go. 
I didn't say all doors are the same, I said there were 2 versions of doors.  The shell itself is the same mold.  Tolerances on these were wide, it was just a truck and just had to be close.

I have used tape on them to hold them on all the ones I have done..  You do have to hold them to set for a while prior though.  I also recommend not rolling them up/down for at least a couple days.

Glass thickness changed in 81, the difference is the thickness of the run channel so it HAS to match the glass, since the kits come with new glass you don't worry about this.

Which side is binding and what needs adjusting? 

[VileZambonie]

Are they ever going to make this kit in shaded glass do you know? I know they currently do not.

[Captkaos]

Vile, No plans on shaded glass.