I've already repainted these (approx 48 years) old things recently as they still seem to retard weather and don't fog up between panes. I removed one crank to see how much work I'd be getting into replacing them and it seemed a bit time consuming and possibly destructive to the interior trim. Further, a call to Andersen indicated an approximate cost of $70+ dollars per crank since they were no longer in production. This could get expensive to keep a consistent look.....some actually do still work.

Now the real question:

The painting contractor seemed to think I could replace

just the ?shaft? leading into the gears as opposed to replacing the entire operator.

Seems too good to be true.......but is it possible?...and using what tools as my kit is quite limited.

Any direction would be appreciated. Thanks to an invaluable lot of experience.