Weekend before last, I was putting the windows up and the right rear one made a cracking sound. It was up so I was gonna leave it and I should've unplugged the switch. A week goes by and I had forgotten about it. So, last weekend, I went to lower the windows a few inches for the drive home and the right rear window just slammed to full open. I'm lucky it didn't break. I park in a garage so it wasn't so urgent.
Just under four years ago, my driver's door regulator messed up and it was just a frayed cable. I made up a new one and it's been perfect ever since. I had an early day Friday so I tore into it to assess. This time, I wasn't as lucky. The cable was fine but the whole plastic trolley assembly was cracked in multiple places (obviously from age) and it broke where the cable attached. No saving this one!
I'm holding the upper cable end where it would be locked in place like the lower one but the pieces are missing:
New OEM regulators are $100+ and I wanted to avoid aftermarket so I went straight to Marketplace to look for an SUV being parted out since I need a few other miscellaneous parts. I found a few but was targeting a 2013 since it was the newest. Then, I saw an ad for two new OEM regulators a guy had bought for his '08 Tahoe, but was T-bõned soon after so they were never installed. He wanted $40 and was on my side of the river. I messaged him Friday night and didn't get a response. I had to get groceries last night so I removed the motor drive and cables, put a 3/8" bolt in the track and reinstalled the regulator to hold the window up tightly in the seals:
BTW, if you remove the inside sweep and tilt the window this way, you can remove and install it without removing the rest of the seals:
I was starting to think the guy with those regulators was yet another Marketplace seller who sold their stuff and just never deleted the ad. But then he replied this morning and we made plans to meet in town. I was skeptical that they were actual OEM parts until I saw them:
They're legit! As I pulled four $20 bills out of my wallet and handed them to him, I asked "It was $40 each, right?" He said "$40 for both" and started to give me two of the bills back. I told him they're a deal to me at $40 each and to treat his girlfriend with the cash (she was in his truck with the window down and saw and heard everything)
