sinble hung tilt balance replacement

Question

We have 9 ea ply gem single hung aluminum windows. They all need tilt balance replacement parts (18 in total). All windows are the same size. I did my bees at identifying the part and found this one to be the one I think is the correct one: S900-28, yellow tip. I have a few questions before placing the order:

- do we need to replace the shoes and top brackets too? if we have to, can you tell me the correct top bracket since there are a couple of options available?
- the sun has discolored the plastic tip (color code for the weight)...it looks yellowish, definitely not red or green. Is there any way to be sure or can you give me some measure of confidence that I'm picking the right one? We don't have a scale at home to weight the sash.
- we were thinking on purchasing only one set of parts to try in one of the windows. Ideally we'd purchase them all and take advantage of the quantity discount and shipping. Do you accept returns?
- finally, going by the pictures I see the top part of the balances, where the screw that holds it in place goes that is all metal. I just wanted to be sure of this because the ones that the original balances used by plygem have a plastic piece right at the top with the hole for the screw to go in. With the intense sunlight in Florida, the plastic degraded very fast and all windows had the same problem only a few years after the house was built. I'm trying to avoid having the same problem. I understan the shoes are plastic, my concern is with the upper tip were the screw is. Can you confirm is metal like it appears in the photos.

Sorry for my long message. I'm a lady trying to help my husband with these matters.
Hi again, I need to make a correction to my previous message. I received a call from the builder saying the manufacturer is not Plygem but ALENCO, and the model is 3710. Thank you in advance for your reply.
barbara

Paul · Accepted Answer

Hello, Barbara! Hopefully we can help. The manufacturer of your balance has gone out of business, but I'm confident we can still help. I'll go through each point one at a time.

1) If your shoes and top brackets are undamaged and still working, I see no reason why you would need to replace them.

2) If you are not confident in your balance's color tip, then the only other way to be sure is to weigh your sash on a scale. I'm afraid there's no other way.

3) We do accept returns, yes. You can see our return policy here.

4) Concerning how it installs at the top, I believe your balances are designed the same way as ours. The thing is, the screw hole is usually covered by the outer tube, and it appears your outer tube has broken off. That brings me to another important point: I think you have the Series 600 balance, not the Series 900 balance. You don't want to measure the diameter of the spring, but the rather the outer tube. I can see you still have a balance with its outer tube intact in your third photo. I would measure that to be sure.