Front Door hinge Hitting window track

[sparksy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sparksy]

Hi Im new to this forum and hope that some one can help.
I have a 04 Prado and during a trip to Kalbarri over Christmas the front passenger door was caught by the strong wind up there and blown fully open.
the force of the wing "straightened" the door keeper and when the door was closed it caught onto and bent the track that the window glass travells in.

My dillema is it appears there is no way to replace this track and attempts to straighten it have failed.

Can any one help

Regards
Wayne

[rags Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close rags]

HI Sparksy
I had a similar problem happen on my door of a 90 series.I found that i needed to replace the door keeper with a new [2nd hand straight keeper]and panel beated the window slide,using a bit steel similar thickness to the glass i inserted this into the window slide to protect the slide from being squashed then i proceeded to straighten the slide with various knockometors etc.I have ended up with a bit of a rattle and also the window motor struggles a little at one point of winding up the window but has been good now for approx3years.
Good luck
Russell

[sparksy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sparksy]

Thanks Russel

Its pretty poor design by toyota relying on the small keeper to hold the door.
Ill try what you suggested on the weekend, the only other suggestion I had had was to try and get a "new" one and weld it into place but that looks too hard.

Thanks again
Wayne

[tecsol Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close tecsol]

Any updates on this? I have the same problem

[sparksy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sparksy]

I fixed it without having to replace any parts. BUT that was 15 years ago . Still have the Prado but just searched my tool boxes and the tool I made to repair the track has gone MIA. From memory I managed to bend the keeper back into shape but the window track was damaged and bent out of shape. The tool I made I think used a U shaped piece of steel same profile as the outside of the track. This was placed around the damaged track and then there was another piece of steel the same thickness as the window runner. I made a few clamps the wrapped behind the first mentioned u shaped piece and then it pushed the second piece into the track and slowly forced the track back into shape. I remember it being a bastard of a job as no space to work inside the door but it di work and ( touch wood) 15 years on Ive had no problems since with it. Ill keep looking for it as I wouldnt have thrown it out as it was a bit of work to get the curve of the steel pieces right.

[sparksy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close sparksy]

Found part of the tooling I made to repair the track. bits still MIA are a piece of steel bent to fit snuggly around the outside of the track , it was about 50mm long. Other piece was a length of square key steel the same thickness as the window .the key steel has countersunk holes along its length to hold the screw end in place, it was about 100mm long. the part i found is a clamp that fits under the outer mould and pushes the key steel into the track and into the outer mould. By moving the outer mould along the window track and pulling it up over the track and then repeating the whole operation along the track the track can be moulded back into shape.