Re: Stewart's 1955 Packard 400

Posted by HH56 On 2023/8/12 14:37:32

I would wonder if the spring and dirt is the actual issue or if it is more the fact there is no window weight pushing down to help the motor coil the spring. The motors, IMO, are a bit underpowered for the minimal leverage assist the regulator geometry provides. Sedan mechanisms are short and fairly well balanced but the HT fronts are so so. The quarter windows are a serious load on the motors as evidenced by how much the motor strains when raising them. Relying only on the motor to tighten the spring I think is asking a lot.

Removing and replacing the springs are not that easy and dangerous too if something goes wild while you pry the spring back to release the loose end out of the tab on the regulator. Having said that, I have seen them replaced using something like a Tee handle made out of round stock approximately the diameter of the center pin that the spring slides into. A slot slightly larger than the thickness and about half the width of the spring is cut in the end of the tail part of the Tee.

The body and arms part of the regulator is fixed to a bench or support so nothing can move and the loose end of the spring is placed on its holding tab. The part in the middle of the spring slides into the groove in the round stock and tee handle is twisted so spring is coiled around until in a position where the exposed half of the spring not in the pipe groove can slide in the pin groove. How much to coil the spring kind of depends on what you start with. It seemed to help to have one person do the twisting and another there to help guide and line up and then drive the spring down off the pipe Tee and into the pin groove.