Jeep Horizons

Jeep Cherokee Window Regulator Repair

Author: majikxms

After pulling away from the McD's drive thru this morning I rolled up the window. To my dismay I heard a disturbing sound. An audible snap and crunch and the window disappeared into the door. No broken glass and the motor still worked. What to do, what to do... I'll call Steve, he'll know what to do. After consulting the XJ Bible (FSM), the all and powerful Oz...err Steve, thought it may be either one of the bolts snapped that holds the window or something happened to the regulator. Neither of us broke a window like this before so we had no idea. To the Phantum Lair. First thing we needed to do was get into the door. We removed the panel and water dam (the piece of plastic that covers the inside of the door) and were able to see the inside of the door. After the initial "Get To Know How the Window Worked Phase," we decided that the piece pictured below used to have gear teeth (the blue part):
Window Regulator
and a close-up of the broken teeth
broken teeth
Tools Used:
The window attaches to this piece with two bolts which is attached to the track seen in the picture below. The motor moves a coil that rides the teeth on the track moving the window up and down. It is easier if you remove the window while the regulator is still attached to the door, it pulls out of the track pretty easily. The regulator is attached to the door with 6 bolts and with some slight manipulation also removes easily from the door frame. Install is the reverse. It only took about 20 minutes to get it all hooked back up.
New Window Regulator
The whole kit is called the regulator and comes all in one package. The parts guy said that the price ranges from $280 to $80 depending on the model and year. My '98, 4 door XJ cost $122 and some change. After comparing the new part to the old one, we saw that the teeth were mainly made of metal (wonder why they changed it from plastic). All and all, it took about two hours to fix, most of the time was spent trying to figure out what happened and getting the part from the dealership. I met another XJ owner tonight that said this happened to both of his front doors, and a DC parts guy once told me that if they get a request for a part more than three times a year they will stock it. This was in stock, so it sounds like a common occurrence.

Discuss this article in the Jeep Horizons Cherokee Forum

All other content is copyright Jeep Horizons 2005.