Three days after the rear passenget window regulator went in my friend'* car the driver'* rear went in mine. I replaced my passenger rear last year. Between my curiosity and my cheapness, I decided to tear my old one apart to find out exactly what the cause is. Looking at the old one, it seemed as if the end that I was looking at was not where the cable broke, but rather then end of the cable that had pulled loose from the sled..

I drilled out the four spot welds at the base of the slide, and pulled the sled off. Looking at the side the faced the slide, it could be seen where that hex connection was designed to go, and where the plastic that held it in place had broken. I fabricated and "L" shaped bracket to hold it all in place, put the sled back on the slide, and tried to get it back together. I found that the cables appeared to be too short, as I couldn't quite get it all back together.

Looking at the opening in the base, where the gearing is, I saw that the cable was pretty cobbled up inside. I hooked up a 12 volt supply to run the cables in and out in the hopes that they would straighten around. No such luck. I drilled out the large rivet at the top to removed the guide trying to straighten the cable out by hooking the sleeve over the top of the slide...as far as I could get it to reach. I could get it to loosen up some, but not enough to give me the length that i needed. I decided it was time to take apart the gear at the bottom.

The wheel that the cable wraps around has grooves that is supposed to guide the cable as it is pulled in and let out. Those were chewed up some, and the cable was caught under the wheel. There are two cables. One runs to the bottom of the sled, to the gear wheel. The end on the sled has a spring on it. The other cable runs the other direction, up through the sleeve, over the guide at the top, and down to the sled. I screwed the top guide back on and ran the cable though it. I screwed the slide back onto the base. Even though the cable was kinked, I was able to get it wrapped around the wheel properly, the cover back on, and the motor reattached. This required some effort, as it was pulling the cable tight and apparently compressing the spring on the bottom of the sled. I hooked it up to the 12 volt source, and everything worked properly. How long it will last, I don't know. I'll install it back in the car sometime when the weather gets warmer. I took some pictures of some of the problems, if people are interested.

that is awesome news for the 00+ owners...

highly interested in pics!

This picture shows after drilling out the 4 spot welds, and separating the parts. Oh, I forgot...to slide the sled off, you'll have to remove the white guide as shown here. It just unclips.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/archon...nm=11e0re2.jpg

This shows the side that faces the slide. The circled area is where the plastic broke and the cable pulled through.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/archon...nm=6269re2.jpg

The other side where the cable attaches. This has a black plastic cover over it which unclips.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/archon...e2.jpg&.src=ph

Where the cable is supposed to go.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/archon...e2.jpg&.src=ph

After making up an "L" bracket and putting a slot in it for the cable.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/archon...e2.jpg&.src=ph

The completed project

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/archon...e2.jpg&.src=ph

I hope these help. Yahoo resizes the pictures, and makes them a bit fuzzy.

This whole rear window regulator debacle and the overall cheapness in the window mechanism design and the hassle/cost to repair one has made me a believer in not spooling down the rear windows at ALL!......don't need to.....window only goes down half-way in the first place :?[btw,my friends '03 Jeep Grand Cherokee'* rear window regulator just crapped out,....so I'm guessing many,many vehicles of various makes and models are having the same problem ]

Thank you for the pics & the info.

Thanks for the pics and write up, well done
On both of mine the whole top plastic piece was broken and there were cracks all over what was left.
I can see a few cracks here and there on your top piece too.

I had one window let go while driving along by myself and no one had used the rear window in weeks. I think the plastic piece is junk the day it was made and dries up from there and gets weak.

Thanks everyone. There are several cracks that I noticed in the plastic. They're a lot more visible in the high resolution pictures that I took. I cut the size down to 640x480, and Yahoo did the rest which makes them harder to see. The plastic does appear to be drying out. I would like to find a more stable solution that connects the two cables together and puts minimal stress on the plastic. I first wanted to see if a "home repair" was even practical.

My rear windows are virtually never used (often only when I hit the wrong button) and they, like many others, still failed. There is a lot of strain on the cables and plastic pieces, and as PDad mentioned, the plastic does appear to be junk to begin with, and gets worse from there. I believe if the windows were never moved, the failure rate would be about the same.

Luckily archon lives in the same city, so i know what "window regulator" mechanic Im going to come see for WR failures.