How to Fix the Rear Convertible Window., Removing the vert back seats! Options

[njccmd2002]

First of all this is a tough job.... Read all two times before you attempt this and post for extra questions

If you are lloking for something easy, this is not easy I repeat.. x2.

The first step is to remove the back seats. here is a basic layout.



The lower seats, comes off easy, all you have to do is lift, and will snap off its position.

To remove the Upper seat, you have to remove 4 push pins located on the top side back part of the seat, the part where the velcro is for the boot.



after you haver carefully removed, lift the vynil cover to expose 4 retaining bolts. You will need to use a 13mm socket to remove.



and here is the vert rear strut bar. OEM



To remove the side plastics.
First remove the door sills.
Then remove two screws at the bottom of the speakers.
then remove two screws at the top. One is under the seat belt and the other is the button of the boot.
Optional is to remove the seat belt from the floor panel. This is to move away the interior plastic trim.
the last thing to remove the plastic trim is two push pins located on the rear, they are hidden and a PITA to put back in.



There is one last push pin on the top You can see it here...



and this is what you get to see, your own car guts... i did not disconnect the seat belt. i just made space by pulling it ..

Then remove the exterior weather strip by removing 4-5 screws. dont drop them!



ok, so what now. If you look at the picture above.. you barely see the convertible motor. (Sorry as my collection of pics got lost). But there are approx 3 screws that hold the window track and 4 that hold the window motor to the chassis. They are underneath somewhere.

To get to it, you have to remove the speaker plate, the plate that sits on top of the vert top motor and the plate on the bottom that holds the two screws to retain the plastic trim. they all use 10 mm bolts. Here is an exploded overview of the system...



Once you get to view the track screws and motor screws, you have to take the whole system out, but before please do the following!!!!

IMPORTANT: bag all screws by location and label bags. You dont want to be guessing afterwards. Take pictures and measurements of the 3 track screws, the distance in mm of how much they are sticking out the nut. As they have to be regulated to the same measurements.

The track bots consist of a Long Screw with nut, that are not attached together, they allow to regulate the track.

Pics are better to remember. Take notes of the distance between the edges ot the chassis of the car to the window inside and out. The two top screws are easy, the bottom one, I just took a pic before and compared it with another pic after instalation.

A BAD REGULATED REAR WINDOW WILL NOT SEAT WITH THE FRONT WINDOW AND WHEN CLOSING THE TOP IT CAN BREAK. So its very important you pay attention, measure and take pics to avoid damage.

There is no easy way to do this, if your car is tinted, well, forget about it. This is Real 100% PITA. I pulled it all out at the same time. removed all screws, and brought the whole system out.

Another way of doing this: you can disconect the lever from the motor to the window assembly first. Raise the window halfway being a very tight space with a 10 mm IIRC socket disconect the bolt. Watch out for all the parts, as it has washers, springs, etc, dont loose them. (thats why i pulled all at the same time). Dont trust your memory, take pics

Then you have to remove the bolts on the track that are called stoppers. These are the wants that prevent the window to keep going up, there are two. That way you be able to pull the window out with the assembly out, by sliding it.

Then you unbolt (x3) and pull the track second and unbolt (x 4) and pull the motor out last. always measure your distances distance. (to get an idea how to regulate afterwards)

This is your culprit.. priced between 45 and 65 dls at local dealer. The broken bushing. No its not sold separetely. on the picture you can see the arm lever of the motor still attached.



this is your track system, make sure you regrease it properly afterwards....



So another party pooper I ran with was, once i had my plate assemly, how the heck to remove the glass from the old plate, it is held by some weird azz screws, i tried pliers first, no help....

With a dremel tool I created my own weird looking socket tool with pins. You can see i shaved off the sides leaving some pin on the socket. On the side is the aforementioned nasty bolt. It took me hours to figure this one out!



I unbolted the window, then bolted it on the new plate. I do not have torque specs, this is not on the Chilton Manual, so tighten enough, and not to much to break the glass.

Next is putting all back together. Please get alcohol, neobacin, and bandaids.

This part is 900% PITA and RBH ( rear bu.. H...)

Here is what i did.

Bolted the motor first. (x 4 Bolts)
Bolted the Track second (x 3 bolts) If you measured, it was easy to put it back in place.
and regulate temporarily

Slide the window plate, carefully. Then have somebody playing with the motor switch, adjusting the arm lever to bring it halfway up. Tighten the arm lever.

This is very difficult, youll get cuts, and scrapes. Some parts will fall inside the chassis. So better have a long stick with magnet tip.

Believe me, its doable, if its too low then adjust the motor lever higher, or lower. Have a friend play with the switch.

After this, replace the stoppers. The best way to adjust the window, is with the top down, and the doors closed, make sure the gap is uniform (window to window), that it slides with no problem and it is not pointing outwards or inwards. (always compare with the opposite windows. remeasure all the gaps and bolts to make sure you have adjusted correctly.

To avoid this damage in the future, ALwAYS LOWER YOUR WINDOWS WHEN YOU ARE ABOUT TO CLOSE THE TOP. Closing the top with the windows up, weakens these plastic bushings.....

Enjoy, and feel free to sticky. As soon as i find my other pics I will edit to make it more understandable.

This post has been edited by njccmd2002: Jul 7, 2011 - 7:19 PM

[tymish]

I have a 1995 Convertible and just replaced the rear window mounting plates. My drivers rear window pretty much just fell down and the other side is barely working. The nylon roller bushing which keep the window in the tracks break after many years. You can't just replace those bushings, you have to replace the entire plate they and the window glass are mounted to. Luckily the parts are still available from Toyota! I paid about $52 /each from my local toyota dealer. I was able to replace the window plate without removing seats or much anything else from the interior.

Difficulty level : 7 out of 10 - Mainly for the patience, tools and finger dexterity required

Tools I Needed:

Phillips Screwdriver
10 mm open end wrench
Vise grip pliers
Dremel tool with metal cutting blade
Magnet stick to pick up dropped parts LOL
Flashlight to see dropped parts
Big 90 degree needle nose pliers (or spanner wrench - specialty tool)
Lithium Grease
Penetrating oil

1. Put the top down.

2. Remove the top plastic cover next to the window and drop it out of the way (2 phillips screws)

3. Slightly pull the lower side plastic interior panel into the car just off the door opening. Enough to get to the Window parts.

4. Facing into the car from outside looking down. There are two window stops with rubber bumpers on either side of the window that need to be out of the way to get window out and back in. Note their positions, maybe scratch lines. The one on the right needs to come all the way out, the bolt clip will stay in. The one on the left I was able to loosen enough to get it out of the way without removing it. (10 mm bolts)

5. The first fun (heh) part. Between rear and center of window is where the regulator is attached to the plate with rear roller.
I tried to loosen the 10 mm friction nut but the whole shaft would just spin. Couldn't get a good grip on the shaft with needle nose pliers. I had to get my Dremel tool with the metal cutting blade and carefully slice the nylon roller in places until I could get it off of the shaft. Then I was able to get my vise grips on the shaft to hold it while I loosened the 10mm friction nut. There are also 2 small washers. You'll probably drop them so you need the telescoping magnet.

6. Pull the window out.

7. The washer nuts that hold the glass. Disks with two oval holes. The specialty tool is called a spanner wrench, I used a pair of big 90 degree needle nose pliers. I sprayed the nuts with penetrating oil, waited a few minutes. It's a bit of a trick to get the right amount of downward pressure and torque to turn them.

8. Mount glass to new plate. I was able to order new plastic window mounting washers but the ones that came out looked re-useable. Put it back together the way it came off.

9. Get some fresh grease on the window tracks. I used a 3 foot piece of trim wood and tried to slop some into the tracks.

10. Put the window in, Takes some finagleing to angle it in and get the rollers in the tracks. Getting the regulator arm through proper bolt is fun too but once it's on it will hold the window up and in place while you get to the hardest part.

11. Putting the regulator washers and nut on. I carefully lowered the window an inch or two where my fingers could just barely reach the bolt. A little sticky grease on my finlgers, a couple drops and magnet pick ups later they were on. I have big hands and fingers so getting the nut on and starting to thread was just barely possible. Have patience, a flashlight and that magnet pole on hand or this will be impossible.

12. Lower window and put the stops back in where they used to be.

13. Test up and down, match with front window and with top up and down. Mine lined up just the same.

14. Put the rest back together and you're done.