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Window positioning


TravisJ

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Hi All - started putting windows back in yesterday, and am noticing that its hard to get them centered vertically.  I installed the passenger side window on the cabover, and once it was all tightened up, there was excess butyl tape coming out of the bottom, but there was ~1/8" of gap at the top.  And by gap I mean from the edge of the metal frame down to where the tape is.  Its because the window settled down into the fiberglass hole, and is not centered vertically.  Hope that makes sense.

 

So the question is, are there ways to get it centered, and have it stay there once tightened?  I still need to get the two fronts and the driver side window back in, and don't want to have to redo it if there is a better way.

 

Thx.

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So the frame comes up higher on the outside than one strip of butyl tape does when applied to the edge? Put the butyl tape on the frame instead of the camper shell. You can use more than one strip if the tape you bought is thin and narrow. At least a little squeezing out is your assurance that it's sealed

Linda S

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5 minutes ago, linda s said:

So the frame comes up higher on the outside than one strip of butyl tape does when applied to the edge? Put the butyl tape on the frame instead of the camper shell. You can use more than one strip if the tape you bought is thin and narrow. At least a little squeezing out is your assurance that it's sealed

Linda S

Yep, you got it.  Both suggestions make sense.  Thx.

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One of the things I have done to keep the window centered in the hole vertically is when you have the window out you can screw in 2 small screws into the ~5/8 plywood that is sandwiched in between the fiberglass and the interior paneling. Screw them on the outside edges lengthwise on the window cutout just inside of the rounded corners. Screw them in with their heads sticking straight up, and sticking up a little bit 1/8-1/4". Now you can dry fit the window frame into the hole. Stand back and look to see if it looks even on the vehicle and not catywhompis, if so then outline the flange with a light pencil mark. Take the window back out and see if the pencil mark's from your flange look like they are making good evenly distributed contact around the cutout, if not you can either tighten or loosen those screws that you put into the plywood until you achieve you're desired alignment. This will also help the windows from settling over time from gravity and the bouncing from your rig. 

If you are experiencing not enough contact with the butyl tape and there is a gap in between the flange and the fiberglass, the most likely culprit is that your bezel on the inside of the coach has been bent from the previous times it's been installed. You can tell if this is the case by laying the bezel on a flat surface and looking to see if the inner part of the bezel where the screws go look like they are curled inwards. If it does then you need to try to bend it back in the opposite direction by twisting the edges. This can be done by hand for the most part but the corners can be a little stiffer and you may need to use some type of pliers and a rag to protect the bezel from scratches caused by the pliers. This is the best way to achieve an even seal, if you double up butyl tape in some places and not others it can cause uneven pressure around flange and you can end up causing other issues. Likewise I would not advise to doubling up butyl tape all around as having too thick of a butyl tape seam will most likely be prone to leaking quicker. 

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