Power Window Regulator Repair Kit
(For 1997-2001 Jeep Cherokee)


Note: This kit will include the brackets and hardware that you need to repair one front window regulator. If you need to repair both front windows, I also sell a repair kit for repairing two windows at a discount versus purchasing two of these kits; if you are interested in that kit, please see my other listings.


Let me guess... The driver and/or passenger power window in your Jeep Cherokee just made a snapping or grinding noise, and although you can hear the window motor humming, it no longer works, you can move the glass up and down by hand, and the glass wants to fall down into the door? If so, then please allow me to be the first to welcome you to the club!


The Problem


The front power windows in the 1997-2001 Jeep Cherokee are notorious for breaking in this manner. The problem is related to the design of the mechanism used to move the window. There is a bracket which is connected to the window, and it rides up and down in a track inside the door. There is a plastic/nylon piece attached to the bracket which serves as both a guide and also a means to connect the window motor to the bracket via a spiral wrapped cable which acts similar to a worm drive. The bracket itself is constructed of 16 gauge stamped steel, it is attached to the window using two steel bolts, and the plastic piece is attached to the bracket using no less than 6 large steel rivets. So far, so good. However, the part that ties all of this together and bears the entire weight of the window is a flimsy piece of plastic, no more than five hundredths of an inch thick! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out where the point of failure is going to be! (The window and bracket weigh in at just under six and a quarter pounds, and the "felt weight" is bound to be higher than that due to the friction from the track, the window rubbing against the felt and seal, etc. Of course, this is under perfect conditions. With some dirt or ice on the window, the pressures could be considerably higher. The window motor is capable of exerting more than 50 pounds of force, so if your window stops due to ice, jamming, or simply reaching the top or bottom of the track, this is the amount of force being transferred through the bracket!)


Using a questionable design as described above is bad enough, but to add insult to injury, the only option provided by Jeep to fix the problem is to replace the entire window regulator - guide rail, bracket, window motor and everything, most of which is perfectly functional! The problem is a broken piece of plastic which probably costs a few cents to produce, and the solution is to replace the entire regulator at a MSRP of $235? (Depending on the dealership, you may be able to get it for less, $120-180 or so.) There is something very wrong with this picture. :-) At some point, Jeep became aware of this problem, and the replacement regulators that they are now selling and installing use a metal piece instead of plastic, which is a plus, but this isn't a whole lot of help to you unless you feel like forking out that kind of cash for a brand new regulator. Another option is eBay; I have seen used regulators going for around $85-140, and new regulators for $150-175. Of course, a used eBay regulator is almost certain to be of the original flimsy plastic design, the same as what just broke in your vehicle. How long it will will last is anybody's guess.


My Solution


I am far too cheap to spend that much money to replace a mechanism which still has the vast majority of its parts in perfect working order. Besides, its the principle of the thing - breaking a five cent piece of plastic should not mean that an entire $200 mechanical assembly is now junk! In my opinion, a better solution would be to simply replace the part that is actually broken, and that is exactly what this repair kit allows you to do.

The main component of the kit is a repair bracket that bolts to the stock window bracket and replaces the broken portion of the plastic piece. Essentially, it is a powdercoated steel bracket which the stock spiral cable can screw into. In order to install it, the regulator assembly is removed from the vehicle, two rivets are drilled out, and the broken portion of the plastic piece is cut off, which can be done with a utility knife. The replacement bracket is bolted into place (using the hardware included in the kit) which allows the cable to be inserted into it, same as stock. For more detailed installation information, please refer to the install instructions. These instructions are provided with the kit, and are also available on-line (see link below).

This repair kit is for the 1997-2001 Jeep Cherokee (the "classic" version, not the Grand Cherokee, which uses a completely different window mechanism.) This kit is ambidextrous; it will work on either of the front doors, so there is no need for a specific "left" or "right" version. This kit is designed for the 4-door Cherokee. It will also work on some 2-door Cherokees, but whether or not it will work on the 2-door depends on the exact nature of the break. If you have a 2-door, please contact me and I can help you to determine if this kit will work for you.


Lifetime Warranty


I stand behind my product and I want you to be happy with your purchase.

Each kit is warranted to the original purchaser to be free from defects in materials and workmanship for as long as you own the kit.

I am very careful during the manufacturing process and quality control inspection to weed out anything that could potentially cause a problem down the road. However, as is the case with any mechanical item, there is always a chance for failure no matter how controlled the manufacturing process may be. As such, should this repair kit break or prove unsatisfactory to you, please contact me and I will be happy to replace it or refund your purchase price. (In the event of a warranty claim, you will be responsible for the postage cost to mail the kit back to me, but I will cover the cost of shipping the replacement to you.)


Payment


When your PayPal payment has been received, this item will ship on the next business day (and sometimes on the same day, depending on the mail schedule for that day and the time your payment is received). The exception to this is if you send an eCheck payment through PayPal; these can take a few days to clear, and the item can not be shipped until the funds have cleared. (PayPal processes your payment as an eCheck if you are using your bank account for the funding source and do not have a credit card backup. Payments made using a credit card, PayPal Buyer's Credit or your PayPal balance are treated by PayPal as "instant" payments.)

Please make sure that your PayPal mailing address is correct, as this is the address to which the item will be shipped.


Shipping


I ship via the US Postal Service, and the shipping fees that I charge are the actual shipping costs; I do not try to build profit into my shipping rates, nor do I charge any handling fees. You can verify this by checking current shipping prices using the postage calculator on the USPS web site.

I offer a few different shipping options; this allows you to choose the one which best meets your needs, depending on how fast you want the item. Options for US buyers are First Class Mail (3-6 days), Priority Mail (2-3 days) or Express Mail (1-2 days, depending on location). For international shipments, I offer Priority Mail International (6-10 days), Express Mail International (5-6 days), Priority Mail International Flat Rate (6-10 days) or First Class Mail International (slow). International buyers, please note that Priority Mail International Flat Rate and First Class International do NOT offer package tracking, so bear this in mind when you are deciding which shipping option to use. The other two international options and all of the domestic options include tracking and/or delivery confirmation.

Please be sure that your eBay mailing address is correct, as this is the address to which the item will be shipped.


Customs & Import Duties
(for buyers outside of the USA)


International buyers, please note:

Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer's responsibility. Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding/buying. These charges are normally collected by the delivering freight (shipping) company or when you pick the item up - do not confuse them for additional shipping charges. I can not mark merchandise values below value or mark items as "gifts" - US and International government regulations prohibit such behavior.


Return Policy


If you purchase one of these kits but change your mind and decide to return it for a refund, you are welcome to do so, provided that you can return it in undamaged, re-saleable condition. The refund will be for the purchase price only, the shipping charges are not refundable. (For example, if you were to purchase an item for $100 and paid $5 shipping for a total of $105 and return it later, the refund would be in the amount of $100.)


Feedback


It is my policy to leave feedback for a buyer after that buyer has left feedback for me. I want you to be happy with your purchase, so if you receive the item and there are any problems, please contact me. Otherwise, please leave some positive feedback and I will reciprocate in kind.

Why buy from me?


I have noticed that an imitation repair kit shows up from time to time here on eBay, so if that is currently the case, you might be wondering which product to purchase.

The kit you are looking at now is the original. My name is Jon Steiger, and I am the owner of Steiger Performance. I invented this repair kit and procedure in early 2007. Since then, I have spent a lot of time and effort perfecting this product. As a result, I have a great deal of experience with the Cherokee's window system and am happy to provide you with any tips, advice or help you may require. I pride myself on my customer support and have assisted a great number of people with their Jeep Cherokee window regulator problems.

My repair kit undergoes a series of quality checks before it can be sold, one of which is to physically mount each and every repair bracket on an OEM guide rail to check for proper fit. All of this takes extra time and effort, but I feel that I have an obligation to offer a quality product that will work the first time and continue to provide you with dependable service down the road. Another example of my commitment to you is the small machine screw which is included in the kit, used to replace a rivet during the repair procedure. I realized that because the machine screw and its washers, lock washer and nut are so small, it would be pretty easy to drop and lose some of these parts. Right from the beginning, every kit I have sold has included two complete assemblies of this small machine screw. That way, if you accidentally lose some of these small parts, you've got spares. This may not seem like a big deal to you now, but it might after you spent half an hour crawling around on your hands and knees trying to find a tiny nut or washer before driving to the hardware store for a replacement. These are just a couple examples of the thought and care I put into the design and manufacture of this kit.

The step-by-step installation guide included in my kit is 4 pages long, packed with information, fully illustrated, and professionally printed in full color. It is also available on-line in PDF format, so that you can see exactly what you will be receiving and what is involved with the repair before you spend a single cent.

When preparing your kit for mailing, I protect it with plenty of packing material and ship it in a sturdy cardboard box. Rest assured that I will not simply toss it in a bubble mailer and hope for the best. This additional packaging and care is more expensive for me and requires additional time, but I don't want your kit to get banged around, mangled by a sorting machine or have its envelope accidentally ripped open, allowing the contents to escape. Shipping in a box ensures that your package will not go anywhere near a "flats" sorting machine and it also provides additional shock and crush protection. (The repair bracket is very strong once a spiral cable has been threaded into it but until that time, a drop or blow can damage the cable loops or throw them out of alignment.)

Please feel free to check out my eBay feedback and read the hundreds of customer testimonials regarding my kit and service. All of the remarks on that page are completely unsolicited comments from actual customers who have purchased my kit.

Compare the eBay listings themselves. I am one of the "eBay certified good guys" - I have been here for over 10 years, have a 100% feedback rating and detailed seller ratings (DSRs) in the 4.9 to 5 star range. I am an experienced seller whose number one priority is to ensure that you are absolutely satisfied with your eBay experience. I have put a great deal of time and effort into this listing to provide you with as much information as possible about this kit and the repair. Compare this to other eBay listings selling a similar product - did they take as much care with their listing or is it just a picture and a paragraph? In my opinion, the time and effort taken to educate a potential buyer prior to their purchase is a pretty good indication of the level of service you can expect to receive after the sale. After all, "making the sale" is where most sellers focus the majority of their effort. If someone seems to be putting forth a halfhearted effort prior to the sale, how motivated are they going to be with support and service after they've already got your money?

Finally, consider who is selling the product. Even if another kit has a warranty, how valid is it, really? When a fly-by-night operation packs it in, any warranty, service or support also vanishes into thin air. When Steiger Performance was initially founded, a business certificate was obtained from the county and we also registered with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. After operating for ten years as a sole proprietorship, we reorganized as a Limited Liability Company and filed as such with the New York State Department of State. Compare us to other sellers with a similar kit - how much do you know about them? Is information available? Are they even a legal business entity? (Google is your friend here.) You should know who you are dealing with. If they don't seem to exist outside of eBay, that doesn't necessarily mean the person is a flim-flam artist - its possible that the business is brand new. However, even assuming that best case scenario, bear in mind that a quarter of all new businesses will fail within the first year, and nearly half will close up shop before making it to three years! *   Steiger Performance has a proven record of customer satisfaction, has been in continuous operation since 1999 and I have no plans to go anywhere! Quite the opposite; I am continuing to develop and release new products and have a huge backlog of projects that I am excited to bring to market. I also continue to invest in new tooling, machinery and upgrades in order to expand our capabilities and provide you with the best product possible. I enjoy my work and I am in it for the long haul... I will be here to answer your questions and to provide help and advice. In the event that there is a problem with the kit, I will be here to honor my warranty. I will be right here - standing behind my company and its products.

The bottom line: You should be aware that any other listing or site that has a similar repair kit which was not manufactured by Steiger Performance is selling an imitation of unknown quality and durability. I invented this fix and have a lot of experience with this window system. I have a proven track record of building solid products and standing behind them. If you buy from me, you can do so with absolute confidence. I would be honored if you would put your trust in me by purchasing my kit.



Related Tech Tip


The type of breakage which this repair kit is intended to fix is very common on the 1997-2001 Jeep Cherokees. There is also another type of failure which is quite common on these vehicles. What will happen with this other failure is that sometimes when you operate the window switch, the window won't move, and there will be a grinding or clicking sound coming from the door. Usually this happens when the window is in the full up or full down position. (For example, when using the auto down feature, when the window gets to the bottom, the motor might continue to run and grind instead of the switch popping back to the off position.) If this is what is happening on your Cherokee, and the window is still going up and down with the window switch (the glass hasn't fallen down into the door and you can't move it up and down by hand) then the plastic piece in your regulator hasn't broken, and my repair kit will not help you. However, here is a tip that you can use to fix your window for free.

Basically what is happening for this second type of failure is that the spiral cable inside of the window regulator has been worn down by the gear in the motor housing. (Sometimes the gear itself will also become worn, but usually it is just the cable itself.) This almost always happens at the full up and/or full down positions. What you can do is to dissasemble the regulator, pull the spiral cable out, flip it around and re-install it, "backwards", then reassemble the regulator. (Feel free to refer to the PDF installation instructions for my repair kit. Although the instructions are obviously geared towards installing my repair kit, they also show how to remove the regulator from the door and dissasemble it, so they may be useful to you.) Flipping the cable around like this causes a fresh section of the cable to be aligned with the motor gear while at the full up and full down positions. Almost always, this will solve the problem. However, in extreme cases, the gear itself might be worn down, or perhaps you will get to a point where flipping the cable around won't help because both ends are worn. In this case, what you can try is to "slot" the holes in the plastic portion of the motor housing such that when you assemble the motor housing, you can push the gear closer to the cable. Eventually, it may get to the point where you have used up all of the adjustment, in which case you are probably looking at purchasing a new regulator, or possibly scavenging a new spiral cable from a junkyard, but these tips usually do work, and should give you some more years of service if your regulator has failed in this manner.

Just to clarify, this tech tip that I have described has nothing to do with the plastic piece which breaks inside the regulator; my repair kit is not designed to fix this "stripped spiral cable" problem, I simply include this information here because this problem is also common on these vehicles, and I thought it might be helpful to someone who stumbles across this eBay listing while searching for a solution to their Cherokee's window problem. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.


Questions?


Thanks very much for taking the time to view this listing! Should you have questions or if I can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. To do so, simply click on the "Ask seller a question" link near the top of this page.