Crank Switch Power Window Conversion (Finished)

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WrongBedDave
Posts: 182
Joined: July 26, 2012, 4:39 am
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
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Crank Switch Power Window Conversion (Finished)

Post by WrongBedDave »

After posting video of my crank switch window conversion I did some of you were asking about a how-to for them so when I built the driver side I took pictures along the way. I built this one slightly different from how I did the passenger side but they are essentially the same design.

Here is the video of the passenger door:

Image

Each of the doors took about a day to convert over but now knowing how to build them the way I'm showing here I could probably do both doors in a day and a half.

Tools needed:

Welder (I used a Hobart Handler 140)
Angle grinder with cutting and grinding wheels
Die grinder or dremel with cutting wheels and a grinding bit
Drill & assorted bits
screw driver
file
clamps (atleast one good C clamp)
square
sharpie
Wire strippers/crimpers

Optional:
Drill press
soldering iron
12v power supply (I used a jump box)

Materials (per side):

Factory window regulator
Power window motor (I used one out of a pre-99 saturn, supposedly others work but i have only used these motors)
Sheet metal
1"x1/8" flat stock
Small aluminum project box (I used the smallest cast aluminum box available at frys"
4 pop rivets
Small machine screw and nut
2 1/4-20 bolts and nuts
JB weld or other epoxy
DC (on)-off-(on) switch (polarity reversing is ideal)
Rubber toggle switch boot
assorted grommets
Weld thru primer and paint
Your favorite wire in various colors.
crimp connectors (loops and female spades)
silicone sealant

Optional:

Solder

Also needed:
Your favorite cold beverage and music :cheers:



Lets get started, pull the regulators out of the door, I suggest doing one at a time starting with the passenger side just incase you run into any hiccups.

With the regulator out of the door you will need to grind off the three rivets holding the factory crank handle and gear in place. I strongly suggest moving the arm on the regulator to the "down" position and using a C clamp to hold it in place. These regulators are spring loaded and will smash your hand when the gear is removed bang.gif

Image

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Also pound out the little bushing used to align the crank gear you can use it later.

Once you have the old crank assembly off put it aside you will need it later.




In order to use the crank switch you will need to offset the motor about 5/8" or so. To help visualize how much the motor needs to be offset look at the bearing sticking out of the motor opposite of its gear, the motor needs to be moved so that the bearing no longer blocks the hole in the door panel that the old crank used to come out of.

In order to fit the motor three cuts will need to be made:

The little bump on the back of the regulator needs to be cut, do not cut off the tab that pushes down on the big quarter gear, if you cut the tab the gear will not stay aligned with the motor later:

Image

The side opposite where the glass will be will need to be notched about an inch or so to allow the mounting hole on the motor to move over:

Image

Then the openings where the old gear was will need to be opened up with a grinding bit so the motor can be moved over slightly:

Image

And finally you will need to notch the top of the regulator slightly to allow the motor to slide inward slightly I find it easier to just shave about 3/16" off of it entirely.

If you do these cuts right your motor should fit something like this:

Image






Next step is to weld a tab onto the side of the regulator for a mounting hole to be drilled in, I cut a L piece of sheet metal and welded it on. When the tab is welded on line up the motor with the main gear, and drill mounting holes. The motor will need to be angled slightly so it will clear the caged nut behind the screw that is directly above the regulator when it is mounted in the door.

Image

When you have the mounting bolts installed test fit the assembly into the door, the bearing on the back of the motor should just barely be visible on the edge of the hole in the door. If it is still blocking part of the opening you need to move the motor over more or there wont be room for the switch later.

When you have the motor lined up right mark where the center of the hole in the door would be on the motor with a sharpy, you will need this reference point later.

When the motor is lined up and you are happy with it its time to start rebuilding the bump you cut off earlier, I bent a piece of metal and cut it to fill the old alignment hole then welded it in:

Image

Next up I boxed in the back side of the bump and the a hole needs to be drilled in the piece you just welded in for the gear to stick through, then i welded the old bushing into the hole:

Image

Once the regulator is rebuilt and welded up its time for building the switch and crank mechanism.






Take your project box and drill a hole in two opposite sides of the box, 1 for the toggle switch to go through and the other for the wires, then bend 2 sheet metal L's and using the pop rivets to secure them to the sides of the box so you have something like this:

Image

Image

I use weld-thru primer on the bottom of the box and tabs for a little bit of insurance.

The box will then be tack welded into the center of the regulator as far from the motor as clearance allows but far enough from the spiraled tensioning spring that they dont touch:

Image

To free up room for the switch mechanism i cut off the unused mounting tab on the motor:

Image

The first piece that needs to be made is the bracket that will hold the crank in place, This will be a piece of flat stock bent into an L with a hole drilled into it for one of the motor's mounting bolts to go thru. The gearbox on the motor is stepped so before the mounting hole is drilled weld in a small piece of flat stock to fill in the gap.

Image

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My piece was roughly 3/4" on the short end of the L. The piece should fit like this:

Image

Using the mark you should have made on the motor when you were test fitting drill a hole for your screw in this bracket and countersink it so the screw head doesnt stick out at all

Image

This screw will act as the pivot point for the crank handle that you will make next.

Once you have the countersunk hole drilled mount the bracket on the motor in the regulator and set it aside.




To make the crank part of the crank switch you need to cut the original shaft off of the old crank and gear unit that was removed earlier:

Image

The nut and screw I use for the hinge in the crank are left overs from an old RC car so I dont know what thread and size they actually are. The nut is smaller in diameter than the shaft so i was able to drill into the bottom of the shaft and JB weld the nut in place.

Image

Next take another piece of flat stock and bent the tip into an L, leave it long and with the switch installed in the project box and the bracket mounted on the motor gauge how long this piece should be long. The L should be about 3/4 of the way to the tip of the toggle and the end of it should be about 1/4" past where the little hole you drilled in the mounting bracket is:

Image

Cut your piece to length (long is OK for now) and mark a centered hole in the end farthest from the L above where the screw from the mounting bracket would be. Drill this hole out and using the hinge screw secure this L to the shaft using the nut you epoxied in.

Weld the two pieces together and shave down the long side of the L in to a triangle, this will keep it from hitting the bearing on the motor. It should look like this:

Image

The hole on the short side of this arm should be centered and lined up in a way that the toggle switch with its boot will fit inside. Drill the hole large enough so that a grommet (Mine has a 3/8" hole) can be placed inside the hole to keep the arm from cutting into the rubber boot and to reduce any vibration when youre driving.

As you can see in the picture above i shave the arm down into a triangle to help with clearance on the motor, depending on how close clearance is on your build you may need to cut a small notch in the arm to help keep it from hitting the motor bearing. Once i have the arm made i test fit everything to check clearances. Its not shown in this picture but I would put the grommet in the arm and the boot on the switch to make sure you have enough clearance for the arm to move without hitting the motor

Image

If everything fits right pull out the switch and disassemble everything for paint, I used rustoleum flat black but any color will do.


While the paint is drying I wired up the switch, there are two different switch designs that could be used for this project. A regular DC momentary (on)-off-(on) switch which would have leads like this

1 2
3 4
5 6

Or a DC pole reversing motor control switch which is also (on)-off-(on) but only has four contacts something like this

1 2
3 4


I prefer the motor control switch as it helps cut down on the number of wires coming from the regulator. If you use the 6 contact switch you will need to have 3 & 4 be connected to your hot and ground respectively then have the wires coming off of 1 & 6 come together in a Y and go to one motor lead and 2 & 5 go to the other so that when the switch is toggled in each direction the motor will spin in two different directions (allowing the window to go up and down)

The motor control switch already has this crossover between the contacts built in so 3 & 4 can be wired to the hot and ground and then 1 & 2 just need to be wired to the motor leads.

I soldered my wires to the switch because of how tight the space is within the project box but crimp connectors may work.

Getting the wires and switch into the project box can be a little tricky because of how tight of a fit it is, I put the switch in the box first but dont tighten down the boot then pass the 4 wires through the grommet at the back of the box leaving just enough wire in the box to take some strain off of the connectors.

When you wire the switch to the motor it may take some playing around to figure out which wires need to be where for the right window movement. I connect the ground wire to the regulator using a self tapping screw so the only wire that needs to be connected to the truck's wiring harness is the power wire.




Final assembly:

Image

After the paint dries you can finally put it all together.

When you put the pivot screw in I usually put some threadlock on to keep things tight.

The project box does not have an O-ring so I put silicone around the lip before putting the lid on to seal it.

For added insurance also put a bead of silicone around the base of the boot on the toggle switch.

Putting the regulator back in the door can be kinda tricky. The regulator is now substantially bigger than the factory design so you will need to loosen the window track in the front of the door to free up some much needed play, just tighten it back up when you are done with the install. You will also need to have the arm at just the right angle to get everything to go in place, this is where having a 12v power supply will come in handy as it will allow you to move the arm up or down to get everything to fit right. Once you get it in tighten up the mounting screws, power it up and run it through its paces. I found that if the felt tracks are too tight on the window the motion can slow down a bit so you may need to adjust the tracks to get everything to run right.

Heres a video of the driver side window after being wired in:

http://youtu.be/NQ0tZHHLeuo



These instructions should be about as clear as mud so ask away if you have questions. I plan on working on the design some more over the next couple months to get any bugs i find worked out.

Questions and comments are very welcome and sorry for being so long winded :thumright:









Changes/updates :hello: :

So far the only issue I've hat with the conversion is the driver side nylon roller was toast and wore out. That was happening before the conversion tho and a replacement from NPD fixed the problem.


I redesigned the crank arm making it wider around the shaft to take some of the play out of the handles, and i shortened the shaft to the original length, the way i made them in the write up makes them 1/4" longer than they were originally. Last change I made was i added a plastic washer in between the crank arm and the mounting bracket to help with any rattles.
Last edited by WrongBedDave on April 21, 2013, 6:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Dave

63 Wrong Bed 2WD : 302/C4, drip rails shaved, aluminum radiator/e-fan, 16 gallon fuel cell, "custom" gauges, 1000W sound system

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1965fordf100
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Joined: February 25, 2008, 3:32 pm
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Re: Crank Switch Power Window Conversion (Finished)

Post by 1965fordf100 »

That's a lot to digest! Thanks for taking the time to do the write up...the next question is when can I just send you my regulators and have you do this for me? Lol
Phil
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WrongBedDave
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Joined: July 26, 2012, 4:39 am
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
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Re: Crank Switch Power Window Conversion (Finished)

Post by WrongBedDave »

Probably in an month or two I could convert your pair. That would give me time to work out any kinks I find and i would have the time away from school to build them.
Dave

63 Wrong Bed 2WD : 302/C4, drip rails shaved, aluminum radiator/e-fan, 16 gallon fuel cell, "custom" gauges, 1000W sound system

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Alan Mclennan
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Re: Crank Switch Power Window Conversion (Finished)

Post by Alan Mclennan »

Very well done Dave!... :clap:
Honey, If I say I`ll fix something I will, there`s no need to remind me every 6 months!!
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eddieschopshop
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Re: Crank Switch Power Window Conversion (Finished)

Post by eddieschopshop »

great job.. i like the fact that you keeped things clean a and simple to follow.. especially the part of keeping the modified crank setup on there..
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WrongBedDave
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Re: Crank Switch Power Window Conversion (Finished)

Post by WrongBedDave »

Thanks! I will document changes to the design as I make them, hopefully will be able to post updates this weekend. So far they are running perfectly tho
Dave

63 Wrong Bed 2WD : 302/C4, drip rails shaved, aluminum radiator/e-fan, 16 gallon fuel cell, "custom" gauges, 1000W sound system

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WrongBedDave
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Joined: July 26, 2012, 4:39 am
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Re: Crank Switch Power Window Conversion (Finished)

Post by WrongBedDave »

Made some updates today, the original post has been updated
Dave

63 Wrong Bed 2WD : 302/C4, drip rails shaved, aluminum radiator/e-fan, 16 gallon fuel cell, "custom" gauges, 1000W sound system

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jalipke1124
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Re: Crank Switch Power Window Conversion (Finished)

Post by jalipke1124 »

Very cool way of going with electric windows.
Jim
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orangeRcode
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Re: Crank Switch Power Window Conversion (Finished)

Post by orangeRcode »

Great instructions! Very well thought out. Thanks for taking the time to document your process and offer to members. :clap:
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FlintMich
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Re: Crank Switch Power Window Conversion (Finished)

Post by FlintMich »

I know this is an older post but - WOW! What a great idea.
Really thinking outside of the box Dave! Thank you for sharing.
Have there been any more updates or modifications to this system?
It's been a couple years now - any issues with this setup or anything you wish you'd have done differently?
I saw a similar setup on an "Icon" video recently and just "assumed" it must be terribly complicated and out of my range of fabrication. But you've shown me that it is very doable. You da man!
:notworthy:

Thanks again.
TJ


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