Chinook RV

On the weekend I fixed my passenger side power window, and created a short video highlighting some tips and points specific to my 1989 chinook. Perhaps it will be of use to Chinookers(Chinookians?) out there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m52hB2iWxF8

As I mention later in the video, I have convinced myself that this window was installed incorrectly at the factory. The tension on the spring made it *impossible* to fully open the window which led to the part failure. This and the factory door plastic being untouched leads me to this conclusion. But it seems strange that previous owners just 'dealt with' a broken window and never bothered fixing it for 30 years. Any thoughts on this puzzle are much appreciated.

I also had issues finding a replacement 'full' assembly online. I think it is possible the power windows are not standard equipment and pulled from a similar Ford model, like an F-350 or something. But thankfully I was able to fix it without requiring a replacement!

Nice, thanks! That old style gear mechanism can be dangerous to work with. When I was a teen I remember hooking a pulled out unit to a battery to rotate it, and it went past the end to where the spring suddenly snapped the arm around with incredible force.

More recently, I've replaced several power window assemblies in various Jeep models. The new style of motor and pulley cable is not as strong, but far less dangerous, and pretty cheap to replace. e.g. bought a whole new assembly with motor and all for under $50.

Kev

Yeah, the spring tension caught me by surprise when i first took the motor off. I can hear the spring in the door on the driver's side when I lower the window, making me think that the same high tension is in that door as well. And yes, thankfully these new things are pretty cheap and easy to work with!

I have thw same problem with the same window. How did you remove the rivet heads with out damageing the surface. I have thought of using a dremal tool with a cutting wheel. Thanks for the video. Norm

Hi norm! Usually rivets can just be drilled out with a normal drill bit. Just drill it out from the top. I should mention that I used nuts and bolts to re-install the assembly but the ‘correct’ way of doing it is to use rivets. But I do not have a rivet gun or rivets at such a large size. I did use nylon lock nuts tho, and I hope that will be fine.

Hope the video is useful. It has beeen running like a champ with my hacky solution! I’m interested to know how you fix it.