MTFCA Forum

I have the window regulators that I removed from a 1927 Coupe. I notice that the "Roller" on the end of the actuating arm does not move. Shouldn't this rotate so it doesn't wear in the window track? Is there supposed to be a roller attached to it somehow? It would seem to me that with raising and lowering the window, this part would eventually slice through the window track. Any info or tips?
Thanks!

I'm going through that right now, I had the same thought..but no, it's a big chunk of steel riveted to the arm, and it just slides on the channel. A bit of lubrication every ten years might be all it needs to last forever.

The roller might ought to roll. Not sure but it sure might. I used white grease on the tracks and the roller of my 24 Coupe It works good for tracks, rollers, slides and gear drive chains. It won’t congeal or get hard for a good while if it does at all and cold won’t affect it. We used it in maintenance for overhead door tracks and whatever in maintenance work where I worked. Ace hardware has it small tubes and it’s inexpensive.

It really is one piece of metal, it's not a roller. I'm quite familiar with having rollers on the ends of window regulator arms, this is a new one on me. But I accept it as a reasonable way to build a Model T. With some cleaning and a bit of grease, it will slide without wear for a long time.

. . .

Since you have it out get you some fine sandpaper, steel wool or something similar and polish it nice and smooth. The stationary “roller” and the channel it rides on.
Think of keeping a slide in a pistol smooth. The smoother it is the better it works.
The smooth surface will make a slightly noticeable difference.

Definitely!

The new replacements appear to be riveted solidly to the arm, making it a slider, not a roller. jb

https://cdn.modeltford.com/i/c/476374l.jpg

My '25 coupe with all-steel doors has a regulator that looks just like the ones for sale in the catalogs for 26-27 and Model A's except it is bigger in every dimension. It had a potmetal roller on the arm that was seized and had been for many years and there was a groove worn in it. I first purchased the ones from the catalog and found that not only were they too small, they did not have a roller on the arm, so I attempted to make a new roller for my old regulators. I was quite proud of what I made until I found that no matter how loose, and how much grease was on it, it did not roll. I freed up the mechanism on the other door but left the roller seized and greased the track, and that side works better than the one that I made the roller for.

From Lang's:
The answer our technical staff have produced is as follows.

The "roller" is fixed and slides in the window channel.