How to put door glass in a 71 charger

[70chall440]

Let me begin by saying that I am sure there are other ways to accomplish this task, however what I am about to depict is how I just did on my 71 charger. Also, I will probably leave out something so forgive me but I am sure other members will chime in to fill in what I miss.

I decided to make this post because prior to me doing it I looked online (many times), looked at the manual, etc. and did not really find anything that definitive or singularly helpful. There is a very good YouTube video about the quarter glass so I am not going to address those here.

This thread is going to be picture heavy (because I like pictures...). I tried to take as many pictures as I thought would be helpful.

So let's begin with what you need for 1 door;

- The door glass itself with the up stops installed (a note on this, if you buy new up stops they come with black round rubber bushings which I believe is for later glass with large holes, on my 71 the stops fit the glass without the rubber)

- The window regulator (needs to be in good condition with all of the nylon guides present)

- The regulator pivot (this is a rectangular plate with a track to channel on it. The channel is mounted off center and IMO the long part goes up)

- The window tracks: front and rear (1/4-20 bolts x 2 for each on the top which are about 1/2" long but can be longer, there is a plate/bracket that goes on the top which also serves to locate the door panel and a square head bolt on the bottom with fender washer and nut)

- The 2 guide rollers (these are 2 nylon bushings with screws in them, they are used to keep the track on the glass)

- 2 up stops (these have rubber on one end and have a stud with a 1/4-20 nut). If the rubber is lightly damaged you can cover it with some 1.5" heat shrink rather than buying new rubber.

- 2 window guides (these are the L shaped pieces with the fuzzy material on one end. They are used to guide/push against the glass slightly helping to "guide" it in the correct arc. Note here, do not get lubricant/grease on these or you will forever be trying to clean your window and every time you roll it up you will have a streak)

 

[70chall440]

Ok so now how do we get all of this into the door? Let me say right now that this does take some patience (not something I have a lot of), it is NOT hard, in fact it is pretty easy if you take your time and understand how the window works (not rocket science). Take your time and don't fight it.

On the drivers side you MUST but the door mirror on before installing the glass and routing the remote cables (it runs to the front in a U type configuration and has round clips to keep the cable from hitting the glass, if the clips are missing you can use something like a Mag daddy to replace the clip). Once the glass is in there is zero access to the cable/mirror mainly because you use the hole where the regulator is mounted to reach and guide the cable.

Also you need to secure the door lock rod in the upright position. There is supposed to be a clip with a loop in it that keeps the rod upright, again if this is missing I would suggest using a Mag daddy to replace it.

You DO NOT have to remove the outside door seal/whiskers, in fact I would recommend not doing it.

I would recommend lubricating the regulator and tracks pre-install with white lithium grease (or whatever) just because it is much easier. If you do this then wear rubber gloves during the install because you will have grease all over plus the rubber gloves do provide more purchase on the glass.

Ok so here is how I did it;

- First remove the bottom stop if present (big rubber block at the bottom of the door

- Put some rags into the door to protect the glass if you drop it or it slides down. Don't put too much, you need access to the bottom track bolt holes, you just need a little to provide some cousin

- Slide the regulator into the door via the center rectangular hole and just lay it in there loosely against the inside (part that would be inside the car)

- Slide the glass into the door. This is the tricky part in that you have the basically slide the glass into the frame at the back of the door nose first and sort of "submarine" it into the frame in sort of the angled sweeping motion. NOTE: looking at the back of the door just behind the door lock rod and the back of the door frame there is kind of a slot or an angular opening, this is where the glass can slide in, however you need to tilt the glass inward (towards the inside of the car) as you try and get the glass in. Once you have the glass inside the door frame, scoot it back against the outside of the door skin (so there is a gap between the glass and the regulator).

- Slide the tracks inside the door frame (I recommend putting the front track in first and sliding it as forward as possible). The put the rear track into the frame and push it as far rearward as possible. NOTE: you can install the tracks after you connect the glass to the regulator which is slightly easier because you are not fighting the loose tracks as you are trying to manipulate the glass and regulator, I did it both ways and it worked fine.

So the next post will be some pics before I continue

 

[70chall440]

So here are some pictures.

- The 2 square holes on the top of the door frame are for the window tracks

- The 2 slots on top of the door frame are for the window guides (fuzzy brackets)

- The regulator is held on by 3 short 1/4-20 bolts

- The 2 rectangular holes with the slots on the inside are for the window stops (brackets with rubber) These should be removed prior to putting in the window.

- On the drivers door only there is a square hole with a tab above where the window crack would be and slightly to the right (looking at it), this is where the window adjuster goes. The cables MUST be routed and held along the perimeter of the door or they will rub on the window

 

[70chall440]

Ok so now you have everything in the door, its time to put it all together.

I highly recommend you go to HF and get some rectangular LEDs so that you can see. You are going to be looking through every hole in that door to try and see what is going on and it can be a challenge at times.

Everything is going to be assembled loosely, you should have tools handy (7/16 and 1/2 wrench, 7/16 deep well socket and ratchet, etc) but do not tighten anything until everything else is connected.

- First connect the regulator to the glass. I recommend connecting the back end first (which should be a square guide). You do this by moving the regulator to the glass and essentially fishing that square guide into the channel on the glass (not hard but can take a little bit of playing around). Then slide the regulator forward and get the round guide into the channel.

- Now scoot the regulator/glass assembly slightly to the inside frame and raise the regulator up and alight the front bolt hole, install the front bolt by hand.

- If you did not load the tracks, now is the time to do so.

- Get some pieces of 2x4 or something handy, reach in towards the center of the glass and raise it approximately 2 to 3 inches (NOTE: pay attention to the top of the glass and make sure it is not hitting the inside of the door frame which will prevent it from going up), put the 2xx4 under the glass to keep it raised up.

- The tracks should be somewhat between the regulator and the glass (it will seem like chaos at this point). Get the front track and manipulate it around and get it positioned into the track on the glass. Move the track around until it loosely lines up with the top holes, put 1 of the 1/4x20 bolt in loosely just to help keep it vertical.

- At this point get down and look for the square nut that is on the window frame which is where the track retainer bushing will fasten. You might have to raise or lower the glass a little but you want to get that bushing in because it will then keep the track and glass together as a unit.

Here are some more pictures to entertain before we continue LOL.

 

[70chall440]

So now you have the regulator attached to the glass and the front track loosely connected to the glass, now you will attach the rear track to the glass.

- Manipulate the rear track until you can get it into the channel on the glass and just like the front you can put in a bolt on the top to help keep the track vertical.

- Once you get the track and glass mated you want to focus on getting the track retainer bushing installed. This can definitely be a PIA because you are going to be fighting the weight of the glass and everything being loose. You can and probably should drop the square bolt into the bottom hole for the front track and get the nut on it, this will help some in keeping things from moving too much. NOTE: You might have to get inventive to get things aligned or get enough space to get the bushing in, DO NOT beat on anything, you can apply pressure in various directions using preferably wooden rods/poles but remember you have metal and glass here, hitting anything will not yield any positive results.

- Once you manage to get the rear track retainer bushing in you can now put the rest of the bolts into the tracks (2 on top with the plate and the square bolts on the bottom). Do not tighten anything.

- You can then put the remaining 2 bolts into the regulator. You can tighten these and the front one now.

-At this point you can install the pivot plate, again I believe that the long part goes up. This is pretty easy to install onto the regulator and then align the bolt holes on the door. You will probably need to remove your blocks prior to attaching the pivot to the door and you can use a window crank to move the pivot arm with pivot installed up and down to get the holes aligned.

 

[70chall440]

Now everything should be attached albeit loosely, the window should roll up WATCH THE TOP OF THE WINDOW, IT WILL WANT TO GO UNDER THE DOOR FRAME.

- With the window down, install the up stop brackets and the guides loosely

- Raise the window up and snug up the various bolts. Lower the window (not below the window weather-strip), if it is tight loosen the lower track bolts. Do this a few times and the window will somewhat center although this doesn't mean this is where it needs to remain.

- Raise the window to what you think is about 3/4 the way up, close the door and see where you are. Keep doing this until the window is in position (high enough) to seal against the weather strip.

- At this point you can set the stops by loosening the nuts and sliding the stops down to the glass stops.

- With the glass up, you can position the guides against the glass lightly.

- You can (should) install the big rubber down stop (if you don't the glass can and will pop behind the door frame if rolled down too far.

 

[70chall440]

So now the glass should be in and functional, it is now just a matter of adjusting it (and the quarter glass if present). Consult the manual for adjustment, here again not rocket science. The bottom of the tracks can be adjusted to get the glass to come in or go out.

If there is a gap between the door glass and the quarter window, adjust the quarter window via the 2 nuts that are 3/4 of the way up the inner panel (under the quarter glass). Note that you need to lower the quarter glass a little to move it, loosen the 2 nuts and slide the quarter glass front or rear as needed.

One last piece of advice, move slowly and deliberately, make one adjustment at a time and see what effect it has. DO NOT SLAM THE DOOR or close the door aggressively, if the glass is too high you will break it.

There ya have it, I hope this helps someone.

 

[71SandbugCharger]

Thanks! This will greatly help when I get to that project effort!

 

[mbc0724]

Thanks! This will greatly help when I get to that project effort!

Agreed--great information!

 

[70chall440]

Well as I said I looked pretty hard for some information and found very little, some of what I did find was completely or partially incorrect (like you have to remove the outer weather strip).

It is a difficult thing to explain "how to do" but much of it is evident once you get into it. Keep in mind that someone was doing this every day for an 8 hour shift at the plant so it isn't impossible.

 

[71dodgechargerrt]

Great detail. thanks.

 

[ct71rr]

Thank you for posting this!!

 

[70chall440]

Welcome all, like I said I hope the information is helpful to someone at some point.