(More than) Slight Mishap

[Ctgriffi]

Just finished a nice little trip to Lake of the Ozarks SP over a long weekend. Great weather, nice scenery, and tons of surprisingly tame, white-tailed deer, right up around the Warrior for most of our stay. Brought our e-bikes along, per usual, and the wife and I had a great time buzzing around the area.

 

Unfortunately, heading out of the park and down the main park entry road on our way home, a loud crash was heard overhead, then a few pieces of debris rained down on the hood. The large 59x12" cabover window is gone, as you can see—most of the glass ended up inside the window curtain and on the mattress. Not sure if a falling branch struck the window or if a large bird impacted or what - ?! We drove home just fine but kept it under 55mph. First time that's happened to us in our eight years of ownership.  

 

 

So the question is whether to try and replace the glass... or to block off that unlucky window opening completely. The large rubber window seal is in pretty good shape, it appears, but I know these Class C cabover windows tend to be problematic, even from the factory. I'm reading through the forum posts on the subject, but feel free to chime in here if you have any thoughts/suggestions. Thanks!

[WME]

Are the pieces of glass inside small crumbles or large jagged pieces?? 

Little crumblies mean tempered glass, which is a pia to get in custom sizes. Large jagged pieces mean its been replaced before with window glass.

Check with a glass shop to see if they can get a piece of safety glass. Years ago my local glass shop was able to cut a piece of flat safety glass for my cab over window.

I think it was $115 installed.

If all else fails then cut a piece of lexan, NOT plexiglass

[extech]

safety glass won't work --too thick to put the rubber keeper back in.   i just did this repair when my bubble window cracked. had to get a pretty big piece of polycarbonate because of the width. not too hard to cut

[Ctgriffi]

It was tempered glass (small, not jagged) and looked to be original. It is a flat window but all corners have large radiuses. 

[ednelson100]

When mine broke I just took the glass out and replaced it with a white polycarbonate or PVC sheet from home Depot

It was easy and you could cut the material with a knife or shears. You may want to reinforce it on the back with a sheet of plywood if needed.

[Odyssey 4x4]

I had a tempered side window break years ago. I stopped at a random glass shop near where I was traveling at the time. He said it would be no problem getting a new piece of tempered glass made but it would take a few weeks since they have to send it off for tempering. 

[Ctgriffi]

Thanks for the tips, all! I'm looking at options and waiting on some quotes for 1/8" thick custom tempered glass. 

 

Careful measurements are crucial of course, but I'll probably put a CAD drawing together too 'cause I like to geek out on this stuff 😁

 

Btw, anybody have a product they like to use for cleaning/rejuvenating rubber seals?

Edited September 20, 2023 by Ctgriffi

[linda s]

dawn. Soak rubber seals overnight in soapy water and install without rinsing.  They'll slide in like butter.

Linda S

[Ctgriffi]

Thanks for the tip, Linda.

 

So I got my old window frame completely removed and measured over the weekend—new tempered glass is ordered and on the way. But the plot thickens... somehow, I forgot that the main outer window frame, which tightly encloses the glass and rubber seal, is welded together at the joint! I guess I will have to take it apart with a cutting disc and then try to recreate a similar booger-bead during reassembly. I've done a bit of welding but never on thin aluminum channel like this, yikes. Part of me wonders if I couldn't just slather a good bit of JB Weld SteelStik in that area (which is hidden within the cabover wall), clamp it all for a good while, and cross my fingers...

 

 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Ctgriffi

[extech]

i thought the glass was just glued to the frame, and the rubber holds it against the frame. no need to cut the weld

[linda s]

Think about it. There is no way they installed the glass and rubber seal and then welded to frame together. There must be some way to install it with the frame intact. Here is how it's put together. Difficult but doable

Linda S

[fred heath]

I did that very thing. I wanted to switch panes of sliding glass on my side windows.

 

Cut the weld with a rotary tool and cutoff blade. You should be able to spread the frame enough to get the glass out.

 

When I reinstalled my frame, the rough opening was a tight enough fit that the frame compressed itself back to original. Shoot some sealant in the crack just to be safe.

[linda s]

Flip that frame over and let me see the other side. The side your showing is the inside. Glass goes in from the outside. Show me your rubber seal too

Linda S

[Ctgriffi]

Not sure how the glass-and-seal could go in without cutting that weld, but I appreciate the feedback and here are some more pics! (Frame will get cleaned/sanded/repainted before assembly, don't worry.)

 

Empty Frame - Front Side

 

Frame w/Seal Partially Installed

 

Seal Profile

Edited September 26, 2023 by Ctgriffi

[WME]

The glass is smaller than the frame opening. Slip the gasket into the frame, Flex the gasket insert the glass and then install the lock strip.

An old school glass guy will have the skill and tools.

Edited September 26, 2023 by WME

[ednelson100]

The way I used to do it is the put the gasket inside of the frame then run a nylon string inside of the gasket all the way around with the ends hanging out place the glass on top of the gasket press down on the glass as you pull one end of the string over the glass it pulls the lip of the gasket over the glass. Tricky if you've never done it before but there should be YouTube videos on how to do it.

[Ctgriffi]

6 hours ago, ednelson100 said:

The way I used to do it is the put the gasket inside of the frame then run a nylon string inside of the gasket all the way around with the ends hanging out place the glass on top of the gasket press down on the glass as you pull one end of the string over the glass it pulls the lip of the gasket over the glass...

 

Interesting! I like it, might give that a whirl. 👍

[83 Ranger]

I've always put the rubber on the glass Then put a 16 gauge electric wire into the grove on the rubber soaped it up real good and pulled the wire from the inside as someone pushed on the outside as I pull the wire

[extech]

thats how you do an old vw windshield

[linda s]

The advantage in this case is that the window has been removed from the coach. Work can be done on a table. No holding the glass vertically 6 feet up. 

Linda S

[83 Ranger]

extech Yep you called it That's how I've done all the windows in all my Volkswagens 

 

[Ctgriffi]

Got the tempered 1/8" glass last week from Peninsula Glass in Ontario, WA—took about 9 business days from the initial order. They did an excellent job with packing and measurements were spot-on, which was a relief. (If anybody's curious, price-with-shipping was $118 for clear, $135 for light tint, and $155 for dark. The dimensions needed for this Winnebago window assembly,  #078533-09-B05, were 57-5/16" x 10-5/16" with 2-in radius corners, and I was able to confirm this with folks at WinnebagoParts.com before ordering.)

 

Installing the new glass into the frame was challenging and pretty hard on the hands, because it is a very tight fit—in fact, I'm not at all surprised that some have split the frame to get it done! I didn't have much luck with the suggested string/wire method, although I appreciate the tips from everybody. Anyway, since I already had the frame completely removed and on the bench, I did it a little differently. Here are the steps I took, in case it helps somebody else out...

 

Installing the Glass

1. Remove all sealant and butyl from aluminum frame; clean frame and sand/paint (if desired)
2. Lube the outer frame with soapy water from a spray bottle and then install the rubber, self-locking gasket to the frame, making sure to put the larger groove to the front/outside (thin groove holds the frame, thick groove is for the glass). Place the gasket so that the "seam" where the two ends meet is on the far right or left of the frame, halfway up.
3. Unfasten the locking portion on the front of the gasket with a small screwdriver and (do I have to say this?!) your fingers. Spray the gasket down again with soapy water.
4. Get one end of the glass started up into a corner and then, from that point, begin working the gasket slowly around the edge of the glass—a sturdy, plastic putty knife worked well for this, along with massaging the rubber gasket from the back side. I'm sure there are installation tools that are made exactly for this job, but basically you need something thin and strong that won't scratch or crack the glass, with a blade about 1-2" wide. You gotta be careful, obviously, and try to support the glass as you do all this... although I found that this tempered stuff is not as fragile as you might think.
5. Once the glass is fully installed (and, yeah, the last few inches are tough!), work the locking portion of the gasket back down into place, all the way around.
6. Clean off the soapy water and allow everything to dry, then close the small gap between the ends of the gasket with "seam-sealer" (black silicone RTV adhesive worked for me). If you want it to look "factory," mask off the gap carefully before applying your sealer, then remove tape before the stuff hardens.

 

[Ctgriffi]

We're back in bizness and feeling good! Man, I have to say that I love peeling off the extra butyl tape, once it's installed, haha.

 

I'll probably run a good bead of caulk around it all too, for good measure, although I got a nice even "squeeze-out" everywhere with the Dicor butyl.

 

[linda s]

Looks factory perfect. Good job

Linda S