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In this video, we're going to be working with our 2006 Ford Explorer. We're going to show you how to remove and replace your rear window regulator. We're working on the drivers side, but this process will be exactly the same on the passenger side.
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Here are the items you'll need for this repair: 7-11mm socket, ratchet, socket extension, flat head screwdriver, drill, drill bits, painter’s tape, rivet gun
Remove these two trim covers here to expose the seven millimeter bolts we need to remove to get our door panel off. You can do this with a small flat blade screwdriver, or, if you want to keep your interior in nice shape, you can use one of the trim tools from our interior trim tool removal set available from 1A Auto. Put that trim tool on the bottom edge here. We'll start at the back. Pry out the clips. Do the same thing here. Just get under one edge. Pop that cover off.
With these covers removed, we can access the two seven millimeter screws in the upper portion of the door handle, the two in the door pull here, and a fifth one at the bottom. We'll remove these with a seven millimeter socket ratchet and extension. Using the same interior trim tool, pop up on the tabs for the window switch and disconnect the electrical connector on the bottom. With the screws removed and the switch out, lift up on the door panel and lay it backwards. Push down on the ears that secure the door release cable in place. You want to use a small flat blade screwdriver to make sure you get some good leverage on there. Push one side in and pull the cable partially out to hold that side compressed before moving onto the other side, at which point you can remove the entire cable from the panel. Pull it out and let the cable through the slot in the top. Rotate it and remove it from the latch. You can now remove your door panel from the vehicle.
Remove the four seven millimeter screws securing the speaker to the door with a socket, ratchet, and extension. With the screws out, carefully remove the speaker from the door. Disconnect the connector on the back and remove your speaker.
Disconnect the motor connector at the bottom. You can use this hooked portion of the trim tool, a pair of side cutters, or a screwdriver to get behind the pin on the connector. Pop it out of the door. We'll do the something to the one on the window switch. With all your harnesses disconnected, you can start removing the weather shield inside of the door.
Be careful, as this foam material is a little easy to tear, so just keep your hand right where you're pulling to try to prevent the foam from ripping, creating leaks. With our key on, we'll quickly reconnect the motor connector down here and we'll plug our window switch back in which we removed from the panel earlier. If we can, we'll roll the window up.
If your regulator or motor is broken, you may be able to hold the bottom of the window or pull from the top to assist it while hitting this switch. Move the window up with the switch if possible until you can get the rivet on the bottom of the window into this opening here so we can drill it out. Disconnect the window switch and the motor again so we can turn our key off and keep our battery from draining while we finish our repair.
We're using a 3/16” drill bit to punch out the center of the rivet. You may find that a little bit bigger or a little bit smaller works better for you. Now you don't want to put a ton of pressure on this because you'll risk breaking the glass. With the rivet drilled out, you'll be able to move the window all the way up into the opening. You can use painters tape on the glass and over the top of the door to keep the window in place while we work. Be sure not to try to press it tight across this. If you try to press it inside of the door frame, it'll actually create slack and allow the window to drag down some, which could make the rest of the tape pull off and potentially cause the window to fall and break while you're working.
Remove these five 11mm nuts with a socket ratchet and extension. With all the hardware removed, you can remove your regulator and motor assembly through the opening at the back of the door.
Install your new window regulator into the opening that we removed it from. Take your time and be careful not to bend or twist this in anyway because it will change the path of the window and could cause it to bind, or in serious cases it could cause the glass to shatter.
Reinstall your 11mm nuts onto the studs. Be sure to reach back there and hold the regulator and motor in place while you start the hardware. Then tighten all of them down with an 11mm socket and ratchet. Also, be sure to send the wiring to the motor back through the door. Hold the window. It helps to have rubber gloves to be able to get a good grip on the glass and keep it from falling. Remove your painters tape.
Carefully lower the glass down until you feel it seat onto the regulator. Then check the opening we drilled the rivet from to be sure the hole in the glass is aligned with the hole on the regulator. Normally we would install a new rivet into this opening, but in case you don't have a rivet gun, we're going to show you how to do this with a bolt and a nut. With the key on, we'll reconnect our motor and our window switch. Since our window is sitting on the regulator, we can bring it up, and bring it up until we have access to the opening here through the speaker hole. Give us plenty of room.
Now we're just using some hardware we had laying around. I believe this a 6mm bolt that will install through the regulator and into the window. We'll have to reach up behind it and install a washer and a nut on the backside as well. Again, you don't have to do it this way. If you have a rivet and a rivet gun that'll fit, you can go ahead and install that through the same opening that we drilled the old one out from, but using a nut and bolt makes it easier to service later. It makes it so you don't have to have that special tool and hardware laying around. Again, where you're using whatever hardware you have access to, yours may be different, but in our case we'll be tightening this down with an 8mm socket ratchet and wrench.
Be very careful when tightening down the bolt if you're using this method because going too tight against it could shatter the glass. You just want to get it snug enough that it holds the glass in place and keeps the bolt from falling out. If you reattached your motor and your window switch, disconnect those again so we can reinstall the weather shield. Send your wiring back through the openings in the weather shield along with our door handle cable. Line it up and press the adhesive back on. Reconnect the motor harness and snap the clips into the holes in the opening here. Reattach the window switch wire harness the same way.
Reattach the connector to your speaker. Line it up and reinstall seven millimeter screws by hand before tightening them down with your socket and ratchet. Reinstall the cable into the handle.
Send the cable through the slot here. Push the retainers into place until they snap. Sometimes one of these will get caught in there and it'll stay partially compressed, so make sure you wiggle it a little bit, and make sure that it's fully seated and that the window harness comes up through the opening here. Line up your door lock pin. Set the panel into place. Push it down until all the tabs lock into the door. Reconnect your window switch.
Install the panel back into the door until it snaps into place. Reinstall your five seven millimeter screws into the door panel. There's the one black screw at the bottom. It's got the plastic thread on it. Your four machine screws, we'll have two going into the door pull here and two into the handle. A good trick for getting the two screws in at the top, because they're a little difficult up inside there, way at the back, and they'll fall down inside of the door panel if they fall out of your socket, is to just take a little bit of grease. I'm using brake grease, but you can use wheel bearing grease. Coat the head of the bolt with it. You don't need to go crazy here. Just make sure you get a little bit on the flat edges. When you install this into your socket, it'll keep the bolt in place. Reinstall the cover on your door pull. It just snaps into place. The same thing with the one up top on the handle. Make sure you hook the front end in first before snapping the back in.
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