How-to for door glass replacement

[Ron]

I'm going to replace the broken glass in the passenger door of my '57 Tudor Ranch Wagon.  I did this once before on a '56 Fairlane, but it was several years ago and I would like to find an instruction sheet or video, etc., to refresh my memory before I dive into this job.  I searched YouTube and found several videos, but none that applied to my wagon (most were, ah, bow-tie cars).  Mine has the wind wing which, if I recall correctly, has to come out first to make room for removal of the large door glass.  Anyway, if someone could point me to an instructional source it will be much appreciated and much used.  Thank you, Ron...

[RICH MUISE]

I can tell you how I got mine in/out easily, BUT, (there's always a "but" isn't there!)...I have power windows, so I wasn't having to fiddle with the old regulator, and I honestly never assembled glass with the oem regulator, so I don't know how much different it would be.
I do not think the vent window has to come out, just remove the bolts/screws so it can be moved out of the way. It may be the same if necessary with the glass channel on the backside of the door...just remove the screw on the bottom (on the door's jamb). Then you can reach in from the inside door panel opening and turn the glass 90* then up and out. Obviously you'll have to undo the glass from the bottom channel/regulator...I'm thinking just the clips on the nylon rollers will do that if I remember correctly.
When I repainted my car and had the glass and wing windows out, I reinstalled both of them in about an hour or so. Kinda the reverse, but when I did that, I dropped the wing window in place, just not bolted at the bottom, installed the glass channel, again not bolted at the bottom, then dropped the glass in longways and rotated it, then slid the channels in place and attached the bolts. The power windows are super easy to attach glass bottom channel to the lift mechanism after the glass is in place...I suspect the oem's won't be.

[Ford Blue blood]

When you install the glass with OEM regulators put the rollers with their little clips in the channel first.  I use a dab of grease to keep them from sliding out while the window is tilted.  After the glass is in the run just match the roller with the post on the regulator and press it into the roller.  You will feel and hear it lock in.

[Ron]

Well, got the job done yesterday.  I followed the suggested procedure on page 11-11 in the '57 Shop manual and it went fairly smoothly.  A couple things I learned along the way:  first, the wind wing does not have to come out or even be unbolted; next, the window's "fuzzy" channel is all one piece that runs from the wind wing channel at the top of the door all the way across the top, makes the 90 degree turn at the top-right corner of the door (as seen from the inside  of the car looking at the passenger door) and all the way down to the bottom of the door where it's held in place by a 3/8" nut that's easily accessible on the outside of the door.  Unfortunately,in my case this "fuzzy" channel was in rough condition when I took it out and it's apparently not available after market, so I had to clean it up as best as possible and re-install it.  Before I installed the new glass, I covered it with blue painter's tape to protect it from scratches during the install process.  Glad I did because I could see on the tape where it had made contact in several spots even though I went as slow and careful as possible while lowering the glass back into position.  Fortunately, the tape did its job and the new glass is scratch free and looking good.  Now it's on to installing the sliding flat glass on the sides in the back (the car is a two-door wagon).  I'm not the one who removed this glass, so I've got to first figure out the dance here, too.   If anyone reading this has a two-door wagon, I hope you can PM me so I can hit you up for a couple of pictures along the way if needed.  Thanks, Ron