Adjusting or fixing a 31538A Crank?

Question

I have two 22-year-old casement windows with "Truth EntryGard 31538A" stamped on the arms, one left and one right.  Both have the same problem.  They work great opening/closing them partially.  However, if opened more widely, the arms "droops" and "falls out" of the glide slot and you can't close them using the crank.  If you reach outside, you can manually place the arm's roller back into position and with a slight upward pressure close the window using the crank.  Is there an easy fix or adjustment?  Can I slightly bend the arm to add tension?  Or put a small wedge under the arm to tension it slightly?  Or must a replacement be installed.

Tom · Accepted Answer

It sounds like the gear that holds the arm in the operator base might be stripped out. What might be happening is the gear is turning on a bad tooth and as a result falling out of alignment.

The bad news is that if I'm right, it can't be repaired or adjusted; total replacement would be necessary. My recommendation is to remove the operator from the window entirely and experiment with it. See if you can identify the failure point before you consider purchasing anything.

Otherwise, it' probably time for a new operator. To be honest 22 years is a pretty healthy age and it's not a surprise to hear that they've started failing. If it wasn't this, it would probably be something else in just a short time.