LITMIR.BIZ

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immensely when you are ready to reinstall it.

      I begin removal by rolling the glass partially down and looking through the access ports for two bolts located near the bottom of the glass. I remove these bolts and lift the glass up and out of the quarter structure.

      With the glass safely removed, I begin teardown of the regulator assembly by removing all of the bolts holding the assembly to the inner quarter structure. The regulator assembly is a two-part unit consisting of a double arm regulator and a channel support bracket. The channel support bracket has a long forward glass run channel as well as a short rearward glass run channel attached to it. I remove the forward channel first by unbolting it and sliding it up and out of the window opening. Then I remove the short rearward channel via one of the access holes on the inner structure of the quarter.

      I free the regulator of the channel support bracket by sliding the rollers out of the bracket. Then I remove the bracket itself from the quarter glass cavity the same way I removed the glass, up and out the top of the glass cavity. The regulator can now come out through the large access hole located near the bottom of the inner quarter structure. But the keeper you see in the center of photo 17 holds the regulator to the channel support bracket and needs to be removed before either the channel support bracket or the regulator can come out of the vehicle.

      Next, I remove the window seal weather strips and the belt moldings. The outer seal strips are clipped like the seal strips are on the doors and can be removed in the same manner. The quarter belt moldings are attached with Phillips head screws instead of the spring clips used to attach the door belt moldings.

      Remove Back Glass

      I know I have a problem when I attempt to remove the reveal moldings with my reveal molding tool, and they refuse to simply pop off the glass.

      After an hour of gentle persuasion, careful prying, and delicate prodding, I finally get the moldings off. I find household silicone adhesive packed underneath all of the moldings (which explains why the moldings were so difficult to remove) and precious few of the actual retainer clips that should be holding the moldings in place. I do find one retainer clip worth saving. I’ll use it for comparison later on when I’m ready to purchase new ones.

      In body shop terms, the back glass in the Charger is considered to be soft set, meaning a soft rubber compound was used to install the glass way back when the car was manufactured. That was before the rust worms ate into the deck lid filler panel and some previous owner tried to seal the holes with silicone, house caulk, and what appears to be concrete. This presents a dilemma in that I have to remove all of these various sealing attempts from the glass flange area before I can successfully remove the glass. In real time I spend about two and a half hours cleaning out the flange area around the glass using a small flat-bladed screwdriver, a few dozen safety razors, and a soft brush.

      PHOTO 6: The spring in Photo 5 is attached to this plastic wedge piece found on the opposite side of the glass run channel guide. The plastic piece is designed to slide a distance of ½ inch along the guide and is spring loaded up.

      PHOTO 7: Removing the glass from the passenger side of the Charger gives us a better idea of how the spring is mounted. If you look inside the guide channel, you can see the travel slot for the plastic wedge. The function of the wedge is to stabilize the glass from vibrating when it is rolled up.

      PHOTO 8: With all of the bolts removed, the vent glass assembly slides back then lifts up and out of the door.

      PHOTO 9: This is the retainer pin that holds the vent glass in the frame. Some are spring loaded, but this one is not. The easiest way to remove the pin is with a pair of Vise-Grip pliers. Give the pin a gentle twist and it will pull right out.

      PHOTO 10: The gasket on the vent glass assembly is set in a channel. The best way to remove this gasket is to use a flat bladed screwdriver to gently pry the gasket free of the frame and remove it. Caution! Don’t pull on the gasket! It might break.

      PHOTO 11: Next to go is the latch assembly. The latch has three screws holding it in place. Once the screws are removed, check the doorframe for cracks. Old Mopars are famous for having cracks radiating out from the screw holes to the latch opening. Any cracks you find should be welded back together.

      For the actual glass removal, I call in my assistant, Bryan. He brings with him a trio of tools designed exclusively for removing this type of back glass. Far left in photo 19 is a plastic windshield knife used primarily on gasket-type windshields. Center is a wire knife, available from the Eastwood Company for about $30, which works much like a flexible saw blade to cut the glass free. Far right is a glass removal knife that uses an L-shaped blade to slip under the glass and cut it free.

      The glass removal knife works best when the blade is sharp. Either sharpen the blade before use or replace it. I place the blade into the flange channel parallel to the edge of the back glass and carefully twist the tool to slide the blade under the glass. Once positioned under the glass, I pull the knife toward me while maintaining the knife in a forward-cocked position. This forces the blade to cut at a downward angle, thereby reducing the chance of having the blade touch the glass itself. Warning! Allowing the blade to work against the glass can cause the glass to break. I carefully work the blade around the perimeter of the glass, changing the position of the knife as necessary so I am always pulling the knife toward me.

      The wire knife works by sliding one end of the wire under the glass and then attaching the handles at both ends of the wire. But as aged and hardened as the back glass sealant is on my Charger, the wire will never push through the material unless I use the glass removal knife to cut a small access slit through the sealant. Once the wire is through, one handle of the wire knife is inside the vehicle and the other is outside, which requires two people to properly operate this tool. Work the tool in a sawing motion along the edge of the glass to cut the sealant. Don’t allow this tool to work against the glass either. Breakage can occur. Note: Once you push the wire through the sealant, you need a pair of needle-nose pliers to fish the wire up and out of the glass flange channel.

      Bryan begins with the glass removal knife, which works well along the top and across the bottom of the glass. The corners and sides, however, are a different matter. The glass removal knife refuses to do the work for us, so I am unable to remove all of the concrete/silicone/caulk from the back glass. In the end, we use the wire knife to cut through the corners and free the glass. Looking back, I think using the wire knife for the entire job would have been faster, definitely safer, and less demanding physically.

      PHOTO 12: Quarter glass assemblies can be difficult if not impossible to work on. Before breaking out the tools, roll the glass up and down a few times to gain a better understanding of how it works. Believe me, it will help later on during reassembly.

      PHOTO 13: Note the two arrows. The two bolts holding the glass to the regulator can be accessed through these openings. Once they are removed, the glass will come out.

      PHOTO 14: The forward run channel goes next, followed by a shorter run channel located just behind the rearward indicated opening (where the rear arrow points).

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