I've been cleaning up all the door mechanisms and tracks. Everything was going fine until just now. I pulled one of the mechanisms out of the EvapoRust and the large spring is broken. It was still intact when it went in the dip. It's still hanging on by a thread but I expect it to be in two pieces by morning.

What can I do? Can I replace the spring without having to disassemble the mechanism? Can I even get a replacement spring? Or, do I have to buy a different mechanism?

Dumb question, could the spring be welded? The break is towards the end.

The mechanisms are in really good shape...the springs were just super rusty. This is on a 68 Dart convertible if it matters. THanks

A used mechanism shouldn't run you more than $30.. Welding the spring is out - they just break in a different spot close to the weld. Replacing the spring probably isn't worth the hassle - just buy another mechanism.

Be very careful around that spring.. ALOT of power in it and it could hurt someone or take off a finger..

Clamp it in a large vise, pry it off and THROW IT AWAY.....

This morning I threw the mechanism out in the lawn and smacked the spring with a 2x4 from 10' away and it broke. It's going in the trash.

spring

Evaporust did the same to one of mine. It blew up. which meant the rust was bad enough to buy 2 new regulators....

YO..waited for a 30% deal...

welding will ruin the spring. Just buy a new spring

Use large channel lock pliers and they go off and on easily.

That spring would have worked for years if you left the rust on it.

Well, now I know. Who would have thought I should have put a rusty part back on the car.

I've got a replacement spring coming. It seems like it needs to have a full revolution of tension before it can be hooked over the tab. I think I've figured out a safe way to install it. I'll update this once it's on.

didn't know you could get new springs.... grrr..

oh well...

Yes I know we like to clean it all up. These springs have a lot of tension, the large pliers work good with a 18" lever. Makes it safe. Also for trunk lid torsion rods.

Like putting on brake springs with the wrong tools is dangerous, and the right tools it is a piece of cake.

My experience with those (Challenger) is that it was a bear to get off for a start. Despite taking care (clearly not enough...) it flew off at speed and hit the floor and over to my car 8 feet away - could easily have hurt me or chipped the car, broke a window etc.....care is required.

Once cleaned I tried to reinstall and no matter what I did I could not get the required one revolution+ on the spring. I tried channel locks and a bunch of other stuff. It eventually bent the spring tang due to the force required to try and reinstall. Maybe Challenger springs are stronger due to the large window.

I actually ended up buying another complete regulator because even if I got the spring back on I did NOT want that bent back tang breaking off and releasing that energy inside my door.

Lesson learned! Be careful!

The spring in the package does not look like it will take a full turn before binding !!

The last "tooth" at both ends of the mechanism are square. This prevents the crank gear from being turned off of the piece. I ground the square ends to a point and was able to spin the gear completely off. The piece with the gear on it will now spin all the way around to the opposite side.

All I should have to do is clamp the "gear" section in the vise and install the spring with no tension. Then I can use the other half of the mechanism as a lever....spin the assembly around until the gear grabs the teeth on the other side. That should be it. I shouldn't have to use any pliers or bend the tab that holds the spring.

Once it's back together, I could put a couple spot welds on the end "teeth" so the gear can't be spun off.

I tried grinding that off too and it wouldn`t spin off, something was stopping it. I even removed the gear and it still would stop and not come off. Maybe I ground off the wrong end.

Or the mechanisms are a little different. You can spin mine around all day long after removing the cam style stop. As long as the springs are the same, I should be good to go. I'll post pictures later.

The replacement spring arrived today. It wasn't a perfect match to the original one. I was able to install it easily but will probably keep an eye out for the correct size. The replacement spring was a little smaller so I wasn't able to preload it as much as the original one. Here's how I did it if anyone is interested.

The first picture shows the square tooth at the end of the mechanism next to the one I ground the corner off of. This lets the gear spin off of the teeth. The second picture shows the gear section off of the teeth. You can spin this section all the way around until it touches the teeth on the opposite side...if you remove the "stop" that bolts to the mechanism. The last picture shows the new spring installed.