My front passenger window dropped into the door the other day and I got the infamous crunching noises when I tried to roll it back up. Chalk up another victim of cheap parts specified by the bean counters at Ford. The wire that lifts the window broke through the cheap plastic guide. The crunching noises are from the loose guide wires getting mangled in the spool.

So, I needed to replace the regulator. Really all I needed was the plastic track guide, a part that should cost no more than $1. If Ford had made metal anchors instead of attaching the wire directly to the plastic guide, this never would have been an issue. That would have added maybe 20¢ to the cost of the truck.... oh well....

I really didn't want to replace the entire regulator when all I needed was a small plastic guide. Alas, the guides are not available separately. The wire spool got a little chewed up too, so it was best to replace that part anyway.

I checked in at Rock Auto and found that Cardone makes the regulator available complete with the wire and spool but without the electric motor. Sorry, I can't link directly to Rock Auto's part catalog for a specific part. Just drill down in their catalog menu until you find Body:Interior. You will see the window regulator category there and inside that you will find regulators with and without the motor. Cardone appears to be the only supplier without the motor. I ordered one each for the driver and passenger front doors. The regulators came in yesterday. Kudos to Rock Auto for fast shipping.

I applied moly grease to the lift tracks and the entire length of the wire cables. The electric motor was easy to transfer over from the old regulator onto the new one. I just got done installing it and it works perfectly. The Cardone part costs less than $50. That seems to be a great bargain compared to what Ford wants for one of these assemblies.

 

When I bought my wife's used '08 f150 it had those window deflectors on it installed inside the upper window tracks. I didn't check to make sure the windows worked when I bought it (I know it's stupid but I was more worried about looking over the mechanical side)... got the truck home and tried to unroll the windows and it took a second then dropped about 2 inches like the window deflectors were pinching the glass and holding it up for a second. I ripped those off and by the end of the week the exact same thing happened to yours happened to the passenger side... i was surprised how small that little plastic ear that holds in on the track actually was. I tried to epoxy it back on (the dealer is 40 miles away) and fish that wire back around the regulator and both were unsuccessful. I put a clamp in there until i could get it back to the dealership and see if they'd put a new window regulator in since I just bought it (and they did for free) and some where in the process I lost the plastic piece with the window and power lock switch