Spiral balance

Thanks for contacting us. Is this a tilt window? If so, our S900-29 should be a good match.

You also mention a plastic part at the bottom. This could be a pivot shoe, assuming your window is tilt. Unfortunately, there's no way to identify it without using the original as reference. Do you have any other window in the house that might use the same hardware?

If your window isn't a tilt type, then there won't be a shoe. That's what has me confused. Only tilt windows have plastic shoes like what you describe. Non-tilt windows are generally either old and metal or old and wood, and the balance attaches to the window directly using a metal clip of some sort.

As for whether the shoe or balance broke, I can't really say. Both can go bad, but balances typically fail long before the shoe does. 

The tip of your spiral balance looks like it's for a tilt window. I would check to be sure. You shouldn't need any outside help to get the sash out. Watch the video below to see how we do it.

Awesome, thank you! That part is called a pivot shoe. Yours specifically looks like our 15-045. Look over our dimensions and see what you think.

As for the parts at the corner of the sash, those are called pivot bars. They connect the sash to the shoe, and the shoe then connects to the balance. I can't quite tell what you have from this photo, though. The 15-045 is compatible with a bunch of different pivot bars. Do you have one that's still in somewhat good condition? It doesn't have to be perfect, I just need to get a sense of what form it took. One idea that comes to mind immediately is our 26-297. Maybe our 26-041, but it's hard to tell. See what you think!