I have a 98 1500 quad cab with power windows. Both plastic rollers on drivers-side window regulator that slide in the window rail are broke. Can these be purchased without buying the entire regulator?

 

One of mine is broken too. NO, the dealer wants you to buy the entire arm for about $120, even though the fix is a 2 cent roller. I am looking into going to a junkyard and getting one that way. Grease the tracks when and if you fix it, and post here to tell us what you did. I will do the same, and whoever fixes it first can help steer the other guy in the right direction!

 

Thats what I'm most likely to do. When I called the dealership, they wanted $220 for the regulator with motor (they wouldn't sell me just the regulator or just the roller for that matter). Seimens VDO supplies Autozone with a replacement regulator that sells for about $68 but Autozone claims that Seimens is backordered and can't supply them with any at this time. Rockauto.com sells one supplied from Dorman for $80. I'm with you and will try the salvage yards since this should be the least expensive by far. I'll post again when I get it fixed.

 

I went to a salvage yard, but dummy me didn't bring pliers and I couldn't pry one off with a screwdriver.

But I MAY have fixed it anyway. I went to Home Depot, looked where they have drawer slides/rollers (Aisle 13 at my Home Depot), and found a European Self-Closing Bottom-Mount Door Slides that has rollers in it not too different from what we need. The rollers are bigger, the hole is narrower, and it isn't quite as thick (if you set it down next to the broken roller like a donut on a table, it doesn't go quite as high), but I figured I could work with it. Then I drilled out a roller drilling through the pin from the back.

After I got it off, I got a 3/8" drill bit and drilled out the roller, but made sure it gripped it so it would turn the roller, and grinded it down on sandpaper to be no wider than the broken roller. Then I widened the hole some, even a little wider than 3/8" by reaming it with the 3/8" bit a little.

I then went to the door, used needle nose pliers to pry back the bent in metal at the end of the track, top and bottom, took off the nut that holds the window onto the track and pushed out the screw so I could fit the roller on the track, and pushed it over to the mushroom pin. I pulled on the arm so the pin came out of the track, slid the roller over to line up with the mushroom pin, and set it in the hole. I didn't have to push much for it to go in. Then I greased the wheel and whole surrounding track area on both sides of both rollers, and put back the nut on the screw that holds the window to the track and tightened it. I ran the window all the way up and down about 7 times, and it worked fine. That's not to say it won't break on the next try, but it works fine for now. I will test it out over time some before putting my door panel back on. It seems to be as strong as the original roller, but I guess time will tell.

The slides that have the rollers are white, metal, about 14 inches long, and come in a pack of 4 slides and 4 rollers for $4.99. It is made in China, and the number on the bottom of the scan sticker is 81266 17521. There is a green sticker holding the slides together, and says Bottom Mount 12"/300 mm D68812 Self-Closing Bottom Mount.

 

Now that's ingenuity! I'll go by Home Depot tonight, pick one up, and try it. And you even get extra rollers in case you screw up! I'll let you know how it works out. Thanks for including so much detail in your instructions.

 

OK, be sure to post back letting me know how it goes. I still have my door panel off just in case, but it's been up and down more than 20 times with no problem. I plan to put back on the panel after I get back from my trip in the truck on Friday. Be sure to grease the rollers with lithium grease and grind that roller so it is even (lay the outside of the roller flat on the sandpaper and not at an angle).

 

Well? Did it work out for you? I had my window up and down quite a few times on my trip, and put back my door panel when I got back. ..

 

Well, I finally got it installed yesterday. Just as you decribed, I modified and practice-fitted the rollers until I got them to firmly snap onto the regulator arms. The rollers were slightly thinner than the original rollers, so I didn't have to reduce them in that direction. I opened up the hole just as you instructed and that seemed to do the trick. I also took a Dremel drill with a small stone ball bit and tapered the hole similar to the original roller. The outside diameter of the rollers were a bit too large for the track so I turned them down a bit and they fit perfectly. I got to hand it to you Doug, these rollers worked out perfect for this application. How on earth did you stumble across these? I greased them up so that they moved in the track without any friction. After installing the rollers to the rail and bolting the rail back onto the window, I snapped the regulators onto the rollers and the window raised and lowered without problems. I worked the window up and down about 15 to 20 times and added just a little more lithium grease for good measure. I decided to put the door panel back on. I can't thank you enough for your help with this.

 

No problem! Great to see it worked out for you. I knew other things had rollers in them that might be similar to the ones we needed, and got lucky spotting some at Home Depot.

 

how can you tell that the roller broke? my window goes up and down but its slow and it shifts a little while it goes up... the motor is still brand new... any hints or clues?