Can't get the spring out of the track

Question

Hello,

I have a Simonton Double Hung window and about a month ago we heard a loud snap and then the sash would not work smoothly like before. I saw a video on your website that demonstrated how to replace a balance assy. Looking at my two attached photos (the first photo is the upper and the second photo is the lower). You can see that there is spring material coiled up at the upper piece and coiled at the lower piece. This tells me that the spring snapped in two. My plan is to replace the spring but I wanted to know whether to order the stronger coil spring or the lighter coil spring. Now my issue is that I can't get the old pieces out of the track so that I might identify the coil spring. The video shows a nice cutout on the track that allows the pieces to be removed from the track. Unfortunately, my window does not have this cutout. In the photos, you can see how the parts are buried in the track and if there is no cutout, I can't seem to remove the old parts. Any ideas?

Tom · Accepted Answer

Hello! I agree, looks like you only need to replace the spring. I like to use the pivot shoe as a reference for picking the best spring replacement: in your case, your shoe is a match for our 15-199, so that tells me that you can use either the 1/2" thick Series 160 or the 3/8" thick Series 165 as a replacement. You will need to measure your spring to verify which one is best; I personally think you have the 1/2" Series 160, but we'll see if I'm right or not.

As for using a stronger option, I would advise against it. If your springs are too strong then your window will be harder to close, and may even drift up on its own. The rule of thumb is to stick with whatever strength option the installers put in originally unless you suspect that they made a mistake with that installation. Figure that springs like this last around 10-15 years, depending on frequency of use. The kind of damage you have here is not out of the ordinary for that timeframe.

Finally, as for a cutout, if you have none in your window track as it is then you will have to make one. The video below will show you how this can be done.