Disassembling the Samurai Door

Figmo

Recently, I needed to swap out the window crank assembly on Lora's 1988.5 Samurai (Son of Sami). The window crank handle had stripped out and even though she only had to use pliers about a month until I got a new set of crank handles, by then the damage was done. The delicate metal on the crank assembly had been ground so smooth so that even the new handles could no longer get a bite on it. A visit to my local bone yard scored me a new crank assembly for only $10.

"What a great concept for a tech article", I thought to myself. Not only will this article be helpful for replacing the window crank assembly, but it also gives good step by step instructions on disassembling the Samurai door. So that means this article will be useful for folks who need to replace broken side glass, replace glass weather stripping, or a broken door handle.

Tools you will need:

Phillips screwdriver
Large standard screwdriver
Small standard screwdriver
Vice-Grip type pliers (optional)

First, remove the door handle cover, the door grab bar and the door strap. All are held in place by phillips head screws and are pretty easy to get out. Remove the window crank handle by working behind it with a small standard screwdriver. There is a wire clip that must be slid off the back side before it can be removed. Remove the door panel by locating the pins holding it in place. You can find them by running your hand along the edge of the door panel. You should feel a bump were each pin is. There should be 12 of them (6 along the top, one along each side and 4 along the bottom). These just pop in and out - use your large standard screwdriver to work behind the door panel and pop each pin free. Be careful not to crack or tear the door panel.

Once the door panel is off, you should see a sheet of opaque plastic covering the door behind it. Remove just enough of this to gain access to the parts inside. Be very careful not to rip it. This is what keeps the cool breeze out in the winter time. I found it best to just grab and peel the black "goo" that holds it on. It's more hardy than the plastic sheet and you will be less likely to tear the sheet this way.

In order to remove the glass - you must also remove the weather-stripping from along the top of the door. There are two strips, a rubber outer and a felt inner strip. Roll the window all the way down. Start with the outer strip. It has clips holding it on and is removed by popping them straight up. Now do the inner felt strip - it is also held on by clips but these pop off "sideways".

Ok, now survey the parts inside the door. We must remove the window glass before removing the crank assembly. It is held to the assembly by 2 screws marked "A" in the photograph. These are typical Suzuki phillips head screws meaning they are a pain to remove. To complicate matters - you can't use an impact on them because any jarring or extreme force on them will result in shattered glass (don't ask me how I know this <g>).

Fortunately, these screws have rather large heads. This means you can get a good bite on them with a pair of vise-grips and break them free pretty easily. Once broken free, a few gentle twists of the screwdriver removes them. To remove the glass from the door, turn it sideways and slide it up and out (pass it through on the outside of the window frame).

The window crank assembly is held to the door by 6 phillips head screws - marked "B" in the photograph. The 4 around the window crank handle are just like the 2 that held the glass in place so you can use that new vice-grip trick you just learned on these to break them free. Unfortunately, the other 2 have flush heads. So just get a good sized phillips head screwdriver and be careful not to strip them. Since the glass is out at this point you could use an impact if you wanted to but I did not find them that hard to remove (not like, say....DOOR HINGE SCREWS!!!)

Once all screws have been removed the assembly will just drop free inside the door. Simply collapse it and fish it out the large access hole in the center of the door.

Before inserting the new assembly - now is a good time to grease all the rollers and slides to ensure a smooth easy crank up and down of the window once installed.

Installation is a breeze - simply reverse the above instructions. When the time to stick the plastic sheet in place comes be sure to fix any tears or places where it's not sticking up anymore with some duct tape (good ol' duct tape - is there any limit to it's uses?).

That's about all there is too it. Using the above instructions and pictures you should be able to disassemble the Samurai door and repair or replace any component contained within.