I bought a kit to rebuild the window regulator but I can't figure out how to get the pulley out. I put some pictures of the metal part left of the pulley that's still in the regulator for reference. I need to get that metal piece out. The kit came with the pulley and the metal center piece but no back part. I assume I need to reuse the one already on there so I don't want to drill it out.

 

Hi,
Just in time for Autumn I've got a poorly front window regulator on my 04 gt. On mine the white plastic wheel has disintegrated leaving the metal hub as per your picture. The metal hub appears to be swaged in to the regulator, I was going to grind it off and swage in the new one. Where did you get your new wheel from? My 'repair kit' didn't come with one so I am on the lookout for the correct size.
Tim

 

So I managed to get a replacement wheel for my window regulator which also came with a new hub/metal piece. The old one came out pretty easy with a bit of grinding & some taps from chisel. I then mig welded it in place to save messing about making a swage tool. I thought I was on the home straight at this point but I am really struggling to get the regulator wired up again.
The housing which the motor attached to has two cables coming out of it which are 'spring loaded', these need to be compressed to get the cable over the pulleys. The small one you can compress by hand, the big one (circled red) has some ridiculous spring loaded ratchet that will only compress with the help of a screwdriver and doesn't stay compressed unless a lot of force is applied. There is no way I can compress it, hold it & get the cable over the pulley at the same time. Has anyone managed it?? I tried zip ties but they didn't work (for a few reasons).

 

In the end I enlisted the help of a neighbour. The trick is to insert a screwdriver through a small hole in the white housing and shove the insert outwards towards the spring. This overcomes the ratchet allowing you to compress the spring. Once fully compressed it is just possible for an assistant to hold it long enough for you to get the wire over the final pulley. It needs to be fully compressed though.

My car is now back together and thankfully the window is working for a fraction of the price of a new regulator.

Things which may help anyone else giving it a go:

-Once the motor is removed a cable tie through the center of the wheel attaching it to the white plastic housing is a must. Not so tight the wheel can’t turn, not so loose that the wheel comes out of the housing…

-The 4 plastic regulator wheels are ~41mm diameter, the metal hub is ~10mm diameter where it fits into the back metal pressing. I ordered a bunch but found one for a 2004-2013 Audi a3 to be identical (apart from it was blue!). Mig welding it on worked fine.

-Grease the life out of the cables and runners, I think friction in the system was probably why my wheel failed

-Take pics of the cable runs. Also, you have to blindly disconnect two plugs from the door lock inside the door because the loom is threaded through the closing plate. Taking off the door speakers helped with access.

-The 3 ‘special screws’ which hold the window in place loosen the opposite way to what you expect...

-Mark the window position with a permanent marker taking particular care with the fwd/aft position (mine is a little too far fwd now)... The regulator lower mounts are best marked from inside the door by scoring a line in the plastic.

Hope this helps