| 1st Design Window Felt [message #369609] |
Fri, 06 May 2022 15:51  |
Greg C.
Messages: 224
Registered: October 2019
Location: Knoxville, TN
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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So I had several emails back and forth with Cliff Golby and ordered new felts for my 77 Royale. I have two 1st design windows, (one is in backwards) and the rest are second design. Cliff allowed that possibly the upfitter for my coach simply put in what they had at the time and mixed up the two styles.
Anyway, the big 1st design sliders were very hard to operate, and my wife can't move them at all. The felts were very deteriorated, but were not the original style with metal in them. So I spent some time taking the old ones out and installing the new ones. With the new lower one in, it still slid with difficulty. With new upper and lower, it would not slide at all. I even tried the Sil-Glide recommended by some to no avail. I used straight edges on the glass and the frames and discovered neither is straight, but curved. I thought that was the problem, but the frame and the glass kinda match, so after moving one end of the frame straight with wedges, it was no better, so I put it back as original.
After careful inspection, I determined that the glass is too tall. I then remembered someone saying they shaved some rubber from the back of the felt channel.
Always being one to do it the hard way, I fabbed a slicing fixture, using my bench top mill as an adjustable holding fixture. This worked pretty good after some practice, using WD40 as a lubricant, and using a back and forth motion to slice a little at a time.
[url=http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/data/7311/medium/Felt_Slicer.jpg] [url]
I made this out of some scrap aluminum and a utility knife blade. I taped up the other end of the blade to keep from slicing up my hand. The round pieces are there to hold the channel down tightly to the aluminum plate that the channel rides on.
Now the one window I have completed slides easier than it ever has before. I can actually close it to the latch position without having to go outside and shove it closed. If the glass had not been too tall, or the frames too short, or the felt channel too thick, (whichever was the real problem) I could have completed this task in less than an hour. As it was, two hours to make the fixture and 30 minutes to cut the channel, and 30 more minutes to install.
Greg Crawford
KM4ZCR
Knoxville, TN
"Ruby Sue"
1977 Royale
Rear Bath
403 Engine
American Eagle Wheels
Early Version Alex Sirum Quad bags
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