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JohnIL · 10-03-2022, 10:33 PM

Get ready for a saga... Not really, but it did turn out to be a lot more work than it should have been. When we brought the truck home, the door windows leaked and the rattled around inside the doors. The seals were shot. Luckily, the wing vents seals are still pretty good. The idea of disassembling those buggers and replacing all those rivets turns my stomach. I'm sure I'll have to tackle it someday, but I'll avoid it for as long as I can. For now, I just needed new window channel seals and window wipes (anti-rattle felts). I ordered a complete window seal kit from LMC. It came with the rubber window channel seals and the anti-rattle felt strips. The old channel seals where dried out and cracked. They literally came out in pieces. And, the old anti-rattle felt strips had no felt left at all. The disassembly was easy and the window channel seal replacement went quickly. It only took 20ish minutes per door. The saga started with the anti-rattle felt strips. I spent the whole rest of the day (seriously, five hours) trying to get those damned felt strips installed. The felt strips that came with the seal kit from LMC did not have the same types of clips as the originals. They will snap into place, but only with an enormous amount of pressure. After a couple of hours of fighting, I finally got the driver side felt strips snapped into place. At one point, one of the strips was bent into a W shape. Eventually, I got it straightened back out and snapped in, by squeezing it into place with a pair of channel locks. The new felt strips work, but they're bent enough to look shoddy. The passenger side felt strips were even less cooperative. After three more hours of fighting, the passenger side felt strips were so bent and mangled that they would never fit. They simply refused to snap into place.

After a bit of research I found that Brothers (Holley) sells a set of reproduction felt strips that have the same type of clips as the originals. I don't know if they will work any better, but they're definitely worth a try. I've grown to hate those silly little felt strips. And, the worst part is that they don't actually seal against the windows. They just wipe the water off and stop the glass from rattling. If you're caught in a hard rain, the felts will saturate and let water run down inside the doors. What a lousy design. I really wish that someone made a rubber seal to replace the outer strips to help keep the inside of the doors dry.

Update on Door Window Seals
About a week later, the Brothers seals arrived and they are indeed identical to the originals. I installed with the passenger side outer strip and it snapped right into place. SO much better. Since the inner strip really doesn't do anything except fill the little crack between the door and the glass, I didn't bother to install it. I didn't want to push my luck. So, I have three of the four Brothers felt strips in reserve if any of the ones on the truck get damaged. Someday, when I do the body work on the doors, I'll rip out the LMC felts from the driver's door and replace them with the remaining Brothers felts. I can't recommend the Brothers window felts enough. And, I can't unrecommend the LMC window felts enough. If you need to tackle your window seals, the channel seals from LMC seem to work OK, but do yourself a favor and order the anti-rattle felts from Brothers instead.

10-03-2022, 10:33 PM	#11
JohnIL Registered User Join Date: Aug 2022 Location: Central Illinois Posts: 112	Door Window Seals Get ready for a saga... Not really, but it did turn out to be a lot more work than it should have been. When we brought the truck home, the door windows leaked and the rattled around inside the doors. The seals were shot. Luckily, the wing vents seals are still pretty good. The idea of disassembling those buggers and replacing all those rivets turns my stomach. I'm sure I'll have to tackle it someday, but I'll avoid it for as long as I can. For now, I just needed new window channel seals and window wipes (anti-rattle felts). I ordered a complete window seal kit from LMC. It came with the rubber window channel seals and the anti-rattle felt strips. The old channel seals where dried out and cracked. They literally came out in pieces. And, the old anti-rattle felt strips had no felt left at all. The disassembly was easy and the window channel seal replacement went quickly. It only took 20ish minutes per door. The saga started with the anti-rattle felt strips. I spent the whole rest of the day (seriously, five hours) trying to get those damned felt strips installed. The felt strips that came with the seal kit from LMC did not have the same types of clips as the originals. They will snap into place, but only with an enormous amount of pressure. After a couple of hours of fighting, I finally got the driver side felt strips snapped into place. At one point, one of the strips was bent into a W shape. Eventually, I got it straightened back out and snapped in, by squeezing it into place with a pair of channel locks. The new felt strips work, but they're bent enough to look shoddy. The passenger side felt strips were even less cooperative. After three more hours of fighting, the passenger side felt strips were so bent and mangled that they would never fit. They simply refused to snap into place. After a bit of research I found that Brothers (Holley) sells a set of reproduction felt strips that have the same type of clips as the originals. I don't know if they will work any better, but they're definitely worth a try. I've grown to hate those silly little felt strips. And, the worst part is that they don't actually seal against the windows. They just wipe the water off and stop the glass from rattling. If you're caught in a hard rain, the felts will saturate and let water run down inside the doors. What a lousy design. I really wish that someone made a rubber seal to replace the outer strips to help keep the inside of the doors dry. Update on Door Window Seals About a week later, the Brothers seals arrived and they are indeed identical to the originals. I installed with the passenger side outer strip and it snapped right into place. SO much better. Since the inner strip really doesn't do anything except fill the little crack between the door and the glass, I didn't bother to install it. I didn't want to push my luck. So, I have three of the four Brothers felt strips in reserve if any of the ones on the truck get damaged. Someday, when I do the body work on the doors, I'll rip out the LMC felts from the driver's door and replace them with the remaining Brothers felts. I can't recommend the Brothers window felts enough. And, I can't unrecommend the LMC window felts enough. If you need to tackle your window seals, the channel seals from LMC seem to work OK, but do yourself a favor and order the anti-rattle felts from Brothers instead.