Rear Window on Tailgate has trouble sliding down

[91Blue]

I've recently read a few of the threads on various forums to troubleshoot my rear window problems on my 91 T4R
I don't think I currently have a fuse, electric, or motor problem. The window will roll up slowly if it's down. The trouble is getting it down in the first place.

My window has always been slow and rough sounding when going up and down. I've opened up the panel on the tailgate to expose the motor and gears. What I have found are some rusty tracks/sliders which are directly attached to the bottom of the window. It looks to me like the rust on these tracks is causing the system not to move smoothly, thus the motor freezes and causes this awful buzz sound as it grinds to a halt.

I can get the window down by pushing the center console button till the system gets stuck and motor buzzes in, then pushing the window down an inch by hand. Then I go back and forth between using the button and freezing the system and pushing down by hand. Once the window is down, I can use center console button to raise it all the way, though it moves very slowly.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how I can go about repairing this on my own? Should I just salvage a new tailgate with working window? Do you think it's the rusty tracks that are impeding smooth action, or could it possible be another issue? Any chance that I can purchase after market tracks to replace the rusty ones that I have? I'm interested hearing all possibilities.

 

[KidVermicious]

If it's just rusty tracks, hit it with some graphite or lithium spray.

 

[94KC4runner]

I had this same issue with my '94. I did some research and after opening her up and taking the glass out, I found that I was missing a whole track.

The window has 2 tracks where the gliders fit in. One on the passenger and one on the drivers side. This are about a 14$ part from the stealership. The biggest and most annoying part is getting the window out, getting those 2 sliders off, then putting it all back together.

I did the following:

Remove the (carpet) pull off on the inside of the tail.
Underneath should be a plastic liner, pull this back.
Remove all the screws on the inside of the tail including the handle. you should be able to pop off the top inside plastic housing where the lock and handle are inside. (if you go to the 1/2 gen stickies go to the manuals and it gives an exploded view of everything.)
then I had to unscrew a bunch of screws holding the motor and other parts to the tail.
engage the side locks so you can make the window go up and down, I used this to move it to the middle position so i could get it off the tracks.
here you have to pop off the rear defrost connectors!!!! DONT FORGET~
pull the window out, be careful, its a wobbly thing.
once the window is out, if the tracks are still on the window get them off.
mine was rusted through and had already fallen off before removal. my passenger side was in great condition though.
The tracks come with a plastic liner that slides into them. then the track itself slides on. make sure to have both these parts.
now this is where I had the trouble. getting the dang track on the window and staying. this was exhausting, stressful, and annoying. I drank a few beers and it lasted about 5hours, with about a 2 hour break in between so I wouldnt break the window.
I ended up using a soap bar on the inside of the track and rubbing it on the outside of the plastic liner. I put the liner on first and the slowly worked the track on. man i thought i was going to break the window so many times.
it takes a while and more pressure on the window then you think is safe.

I hope through my ramblings you got something that will help~

 

[oconshaw]

attach window to rails

Did you ever figure out how to replace the brackets? I have a 2000 4Runner and have a similar issue. The glass is OK, but my problem is the glass became separated from the rails that look to be glued onto the window (and then fit into a channel on each side of the regulator). Any ideas on what to buy to fix that? The rails themselves seem OK, but I either need to get new ones (what part to buy?) or figure out how to glue them back on like they were before. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[94Tv6Lou]

I dry lube the rubber window guide.
Then took the panned off and cleaned the track of years of dust.