Arched top, non-tilt, odd-sized spiral

I've ordered and installed conventional balances from Swisco.com before. But this non-tilt balance has me stumped. It's an irregular shaped non-tilt window. There is only a 10 inch clear channel for the balance to go into. What is the shortest balance that I can use to replace the 24 inch one?

Spring balance is 24 inches. To get the old one out, I had to bend it.

To put a new one in, I'll have to bend it. This will of course, destroy the new balance.

Should I drill a hole up through the wall, to install the new one???

Do I have to mount this 10 inch balance lower? How far can a balance extend?

Can I drill a hole above the window to fit in a longer balance?

Why didn't the manufacturer use a shorter balance to begin with?

Thank you very much for helping me. I appreciate your expertise.

If I put a 10 inch balance in there, I would need to mount it just above the sash in the guide. The 10 inch balance would only be able to extend 6 inches at the most. The total length of the extended 10 inch balance is 16 inches. (Is this correct?)

Unfortunately, the height of the sash is 23 inches. The 10 inch balance extended to 16 inches would NOT be able to reach the bottom of the sash.

Please let me know if this reasoning is correct.

It seems to me that I would at least need a 16 inch balance. A 16 inch balance all the way extended is 26 inches (Is this correct?). I would then mount the 26 inch balance just 2 inches above the sash.

Of course since there is only 10 inches of clearance above the sash, I am hosed.

I guess the main question I have is what is the full extension length of a 16 inch balance???

Is the full extension length of a 16 inch balance 24 inches?

What is the full height of the track from the sill to where the arch begins? 35 inches


What is the full height of the bottom sash and the visible glass height in the sash? 24 inches.

There is a chance the bent balance that was in the sash might have come from a repair company and not the actual window manufacturer.

No, the windows are original as far as I know. The balance was straight before I bent it myself to get the original balance out. If I had known what I was getting myself into, I would have just silicon lubricated the original sash. My bad.

The shortest balance I can put in there must extend the entire length of the sash. My guess is that a 16 inch balance can fully extend to 24 inches. Is this correct?