Will '76 door glass fit in '85 door?

[ben@speedbarn]

Hey guys...haven't been around here for a while. When I was rebuilding my 76 GMC I replaced the doors and bed with a set that were from an 85ish truck(not exactly sure). I saved the door glass out of the '76 doors in case I ever needed them. Well shut my drivers door yesterday and the glass shattered. I noticed online that the part numbers for the regulators and trim for the windows are different between 81/below and 82/up, but haven't found any info about the actual glass.

I've attached a picture of it almost finished just for the heck of it.

Thanks...

[bigblock73]

They will physically fit, however, I believe the 85 regulator "wheels" will not fit in the 76 window channel. 73-76 doors and window hardware are different than 77+ components.

Regardless...NICE truck!

[ben@speedbarn]

Thanks for the info. I see you can buy the metal piece on the bottom of the glass separately from LMC. I wonder if I can swap that from the 85 onto the 76 glass. Ohh well sounds like I'm not gonna know for sure till I get started tearing it up. At the worst it will be a trip to the junkyard.

[Rooster's82]

I would go to the junk yard and just grab the window from the right year, or year that matches up right. Going thru the hassle of ordering the metal piece and swapping it out will probably cost about the same and is a lot more work, and that bottom edge of glass is fragile, and will crack pretty easy with the wrong move.

[ben@speedbarn]

Ohh yeah...I'd never buy the metal piece new. I have the metal piece that's on the bottom of the window that shattered.

I'm gonna pull it out tonight and see what it looks like.

[Rooster's82]

Originally Posted by ben@speedbarn

Ohh yeah...I'd never buy the metal piece new. I have the metal piece that's on the bottom of the window that shattered.

I'm gonna pull it out tonight and see what it looks like.

Duh, of course you have the original...wasn't thinking there. Since you have both parts i would give it a shot.

[ben@speedbarn]

Yeah got it out last night. The track looks the same, the only difference is the thin sheetmetal behind the track(that seems to serve no purpose. But the track from the 76 glass was extremely rusted with quite a few holes etc., that shouldn't have been there!
So the glass is just held into the track by friction, and a U shaped piece of 32 year old rubber. Obviously the rubber came out in pieces on both tracks, so liquid nails was the replacement when putting the window back in the track. We'll see how it works when I get it back in tonight.