Identifying corner brace/pivot bar

Handy Person from Northfield, VT
Jul 14, 2022 3:35 pm

I have been servicing a few vinyl replacement windows in our house, they are about 30 years old, and have no brand identification on any part I have been able to see. On at least 2 of them one of the pivot bars has broken--see picture #3.

I hoped that the pivot bar would slide out after removing 2 screws, but when I attempted to pull it out, the mitered corner joint came apart, as shown in picture #1. The pivot bar is part of a metal corner joint, visible in that photo. Picture #2 shows the corner pushed back together, with the 2 screws ready to be replaced.

Can you help me identify the pivot bar-corner brace, or a possible manufacturer who might have used it? I believe that if I get replacements, I will be able to remove the bottom rail of the sash to replace the corner braces.

Thanks for your very informative videos.

#1 Vinyl window broken pivot bar-corner open_1 #2 Vinyl window broken pivot bar-corner_1 #3 Vinyl window pivot-bar corner unbroken_1
3 user uploaded images
2 Replies
Tom
Tom from SWISCO
Jul 20, 2022 10:45 am
SWISCO
EXPERT

I've never heard of a pivot bar that was part of the internal corner before. If that is the situation here then that would be the first time I've ever seen such a thing.

I would triple check just to be sure. That seems like a wild design. Pivot bars can get a corroded, or even a little gunked up from time and exposure to the elements. There's a chance that your pivot bar is just stuck.

If you are confident that your pivot bar is part of the brace, then we will not be able to assist you. We've never encountered such a thing and we don't know of any manufacturer who ever used such a design.

Handy Person from Northfield, VT
Jul 20, 2022 11:28 am
Well, I'm sorry to hear that I have such a unique situation...I can clearly see that the pivot bar is in fact part of the metal corner brace in my windows. The brace and pivot bar extension are manufactured from one piece of metal. I certainly agree that this is not a desirable design, and understand why no one else used this approach. Very unfortunate, as this may mean we have to replace at least some of the sash (if we can find some with a compatible pivot bar), or worst case replace the whole window. Tom, thanks for looking at this problem, at least.
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