775 Shoe Not Moving Freely

A quick learner from Nashville, TN says:
Hello,
I have several 775 balance shoes that are preventing my windows from moving upward. They move downward just fine. I removed several of the windows' bottom sashes and the one common trait among those specific non-functioning windows is that, at least on one side, the small metal point (looks like the tip of a nail) that seems to be meant for holding the shoe in place when it is locked has been scraping the inside of the front part of the windows path. I have attache a photo pointing to where I am referring to. Do I need to replace the 775 and the shoe, or is there some kind of common fix here?

Thanks

Mike
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Paul from SWISCO responded:

Thanks for contacting us, Mike. These shoes are unfortunately not sold separately anymore. If yours is broken, then your only solution would be to buy a new Series 775 balance.

Before you consider buying new window balances, let's see if we can find the problem first. You said the metal locking pin seems to be scraping the window track. If so, there might be a worn pivot bar.  

First, remove the sash and see if the locking pin faces towards the inside of the house. If so, place a large screw driver into the nylon shoe cut out and turn the shoe up to release it. When you do this, keep holding onto the screw driver. This will hopefully unlock the shoe, and if you don't keep a firm grip on it, it will shoot back up to the balance and could break or splinter into pieces. Make sure to wear gloves and goggles just to be on the safe side.

If the shoe does feel like it wants to shoot back into the balance, bring it back down to where it was and turn the shoe towards you to lock it in place. This will confirm that the shoe is functioning properly and that the problem might instead be the pivot bar. Look yours over and see if its bent or broken in any way. Seeing photos of it will also allow us to identify a match.

If you feel that the shoe does not want to shoot back into the balance, though, and if it just hangs limp in the track, then that means the spring tension is gone and you will need a new Series 775 replacement balance. 

A quick learner from Nashville, TN says:
Hi Paul,
I think you may be onto something here. All the balance springs seem to be working fine. I pulled the sash out of two of the non-functioning windows, and out of those 4 pivot bars, 1 was broken in half, and the other three appear to be slightly bent. See the attached photos. Would simply replacing these fix my problem? All pivot bars from these two windows appear to be 2.5 inches.

Mike
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Paul from SWISCO responded:

That may indeed be the culprit. This would be easy to confirm, too; since one of your pivot bars is broken clean in half and has to be replaced anyway, you can use that window as the test. Replace that pivot bar and see if it fixes everything. If it doesn't, come back here and we'll see what we can do.

As for what pivot bar to use, yours is very similar to our 26-444. Just make sure that all of our dimensions line up to your measurements, especially the hole placement.

A quick learner from Nashville, TN says:
Hey Paul,
It is truly impressive that you were able to correctly diagnose this from a few pictures. Thanks again. I had about 10 windows that needed new pivot bars and are almost all of them are working now. Two of those 10 are proving to have a further issue even with the new pivot bars installed. They still will not open on their own. I removed the lower sash on both of them and the springs seem to be fine. I'm guessing that the worn out pivot bars on those two windows allowed the metal locking pin to scrape the windows track a little more so than the other windows. Is there a newer channel balance/shoe design that would function better in these windows?

Mike
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Paul from SWISCO responded:

I'm glad to hear so many of your windows are working again! That's great news.

As for your last couple windows, there is unfortunately no updated version of your balances. In fact, the Series 775 is itself an upgrade of an older version that isn't made anymore. The type you have now is pretty much as good as it gets, in terms of make. Based on what you describe, I do think replacing the balances will repair those holdouts.

A from Nashville TN says:
Hi,
I am expecting series 775 4 balances and 6 pivot bars per this same information that Mike from Nashville Tn shared. I have a listing in Nashville and the windows have the same issues and apparently the same type parts. See the pictures. Can you all let me know if you think these parts will work to replace the broken ones?

I spoke to someone at Swisco today but did not have the Discussion number to refer to so I am going to record this number.

Any advice is appreciated.
Thank you,
Samantha
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Tom from SWISCO responded:

Hello, Samantha. Looking at your photos, the Series 775 does look similar, yes. We also have detailed information on the Series 775 store page that you can use as a reference to confirm.

A from Nashville TN says:
Hi SWISCO! I wanted to respond that the Series 775 balances and the pivot pins I ordered worked perfectly to repair the windows of my clients townhouse here in Nashville. We were thankful to find your website and appreciated the advice response posted here. The video showing the replacement procedure was very helpful too! It is becoming more rare to find companies willing to help and advise repair items versus just suggesting replacing items. Thank you!!
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Tom from SWISCO responded:

Wow Samantha, thanks for the kind words--we really appreciate it, and we're always glad to help. Please let us know if you ever need anything else. 

A quick learner from Marietta, GA says:
This is EXACTLY what I'm dealing with at a home. Thank you for the helpful info, I'll be in touch soon to order!
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