I'm fixing the rear window on my 68 Cutlass Cruiser and it's going to need new rollers for the regulator. Does anyone know of any that fit the back window on the wagons?


I did notice there was a Dorman 74444 roller laying on the floor and while it does slide in the track, the ID is definitely too small for the stock rivets. If there's an off the shelf roller and stud available that would be great, otherwise I need to cobble something up using a roller that fits and some miscellaneous hardware.

 

I'd try 1A-Auto ,they show them for a '73 .Maybe you could give them the measurements and they might match them up. Hopefully, Larry

 

I wonder if those are the same as the 74444 rollers, since they're listed as compatible for late 70s Vista Cruisers.


Either way I picked up another 74444 roller and some generic 1/4-20 hardware from the store. Drill out the old rivets, countersink the rollers, and that will do the trick.


I will say for these old wagons, with the way there's no replacement parts available you really have to get creative.

 

I would bet they're the same rollers found on rear assemblies of coupes and sedans. Have you looked at the new Fusick Catalogue on page 31? Maybe post a picture of the ones that you took out for comparison? They might be universal for GM A Bodies from 68-72.

Summit also has some that might work

Window Guide Roller

 

WOW. I was going to ask the very same question.

I, too, have to replace those rollers. Are you saying that the Doorman 74444 roller doesn't work?

All that's left of my driver's side roller is a plastic ring. I ordered two of the Doorman rollers because I thought they'd just slip or snap onto the stud of the regulator. Is that not the case? The parts catalogs say that those rollers are good from 1973 and up.

I reckon I"ll pick up the rollers myself today and find out.

 

Was there such vehicle, at least officially? According to the '68 Olds brochure, there was only one version of the Cultass non-Vista Cruiser wagon, and it was called simply Cutlass Station Wagon.

 

Don't forget to grease the HELL out of those regulator components!!!!!

 

Actually there were 2 versions (3535 & 3635) available with 6 or 8 cylinder engines respectively. I cannot find documentation that 68 Cutlass Station wagons had the option for 3 seats, although the SPECS shows the VC did have that option. I think it's reasonable to 'interpret' what was meant by the term Cutlass Cruiser as being the flat top intermediate Olds wagon.

An interesting observation about the 'flat top' version of the Vista Cruiser. I did look up when the term "Cutlass Cruiser" came into being - 1971. It was the popular term for 1972 flat top station wagon too.

In and after 1973, the term Vista Cruiser was loosely used to describe the non vista intermediate Colonnade style wagons (which were in reality flat top station wagons), and the 'Cutlass Cruiser' faded into oblivion.

 

That is not the case. They don't fit. The OP mentioned that the ID (internal diameter) was too small, and he is correct.

I didn't want to drill out anything from the original regulator though, so I took another approach.

I brought the Doorman rollers home and quickly discovered that they won't simply "slip onto the stud". They could if it weren't for the flange at the end of the stud. I then inspected the passenger side track and found that it is also just a simple roller, but it is intact.

I'm a little proficient with a dremmel tool, so what I did was cut the plastic collar from the button of the new roller off and with a cutter, expanded the internal diameter of the new roller so that it was slightly smaller on the stud side than the outer "track side" so that the factory stud will kind of just... "snap" into the new roller. I used a heat gun to soften up the plastic to make this a little easier.

I don't know how to better explain that, and I wish I had taken pics, but... I didn't know IF it would work, and to be honest, I don't know how long it will work for. Plus, I was covered in grease anyway. But when I put it all back together, greased up everything, it rolled smooth as silk dozens and dozens of times as I manually pushed and pulled the glass up and down while drinking a beer, so....

And then, of course, something else broke on the window motor gear, but that's another matter.

If this roller doesn't work, I"ll have to come up with something else, but honestly, in the past 4 months, I've gotten into that tailgate for one thing or another so many times that I'm kind of a pro at it now.

OP is correct in that you have to get creative.