Windshield seperating from cap

[GORDON HUMMEL]

I many my first trip last weekend to the Indy 500. Had absolutely no problems, 1400 miles.
About 20 miles from home, I dropped of a friend & almost immediatly after getting back on the road, I notice a wind whissle I had not heard before.
This weekend I was running some speaker wire down behind the interior vertical trim & noticed there was a gap between the rubber seal & the cap @ the bottom corner. Going outside, I could see that the rubber seal has moved forward +/- 1/2" forward starting @ the top corner going to the bottom corner. This is on the right side & the horizontal areas appear to be in the normal position. The left hand windshield does not appear to have moved.
My initial thought is to remove the rubber seal insert, push the glass back in position, add some Silkaflex & reinstall the insert.
Has anyone had a similiar problem & what could be the cause ? Just a 17 year old coach!

Gordon

[Richard and Rhonda]

Gordon,

I just experienced the exact same problem. Would you mind posting exactly what you did to solve the problem.

[rcpgolf53]

I had that happen on my 2006 while under warranty. I took it to the factory and they just pulled the rubber seal and reset the window. I think they only sealed 2 sides of the window. I think it was the top and the center sides. You might check with newell, to be sure, on how they do it because the window has to move when the coach torques. If you seal the window all the way around you'll probably crack the windshield because it has to move.

[Richard and Rhonda]

Thanks Bob.

Did you watch them? Did they use a rope and walk the windshield out of the gasket with the rope? One person inside and one person outside?

Also, in the middle of the gasket, on the outside, there appears to be a piece inserted in the gasket all the way around. It looks like out may come out to allow the gasket to move.

Any additional observations you have about the process is welcome.

Thanks again.

[Richard and Rhonda]

Here is what I have learned today.

If you look carefully at the gasket, it has a center section that can be removed. The center section acts like a wedge to tighten up the gasket.

The fix is you remove the wedge, called a windshield locking strip, move the gasket back to it's original position, and reinstall the wedge. However, it supposedly takes a specialized tool called a windshield locking strip tool (gee that's brilliant on my part) to put the wedge back in easily. Found one on Amazon for 10 bucks. I'll let you know how it works out.

[JohnC]

Excellent advice from all!

Most important is do not glue the windshield to the coach. The windshield must move when the coach is in a twist or the glass will break.

The insert "tool' is cheap and well worth the cost. If you wish to make a handsome profit, wait until a 'good' friend tries for several hours to reinsert the locking strip, and then after a quick show and tell, I suspect he will offer triple digits.

John Clark

[Richard and Rhonda]

I thought I would post on my experience repositioning the gasket.

First I removed about 5 inches of the locking strip and used the tool and soapy water to put in back in. No problem. So now I knew I could put it back in before removing big sections of the strip.

I removed the strip all the way around to the section of gasket that need to be repositioned. Most of the gasket was easily moved using a plastic sheetrock blade, but one section would not move. I went inside and used the plastic blade from the inside, but still no luck. I used a metal pick to lift the edge of the gasket against the coach, not the windshield and the gasket slid right where I wanted it.

Using the tool and soapy water, the locking strip went back into place.

Entire process from beginning to end took about 30 minutes, including my learning curve.

Needless to say, the tool went into the tool box on the coach

[fulltiming]

Great to hear that the fix was fast and relatively painless Richard. Have a safe trip.

[encantotom]

i had the same thing happen to my passenger windshield. my glass coverage paid for having a rv glass shop come and reset it.

i was not there when they did it, but i bet they did the same thing.

i went ahead and ordered the tool richard used and will keep it in the coach. i will do it myself if it happens again.

tom (from shanghai china...the flooding in china is terrible)

[kdnelson]

I have a 1978 coach with the problem of the corners of the windshields wanting to pop out. I am trying to take it in to have them reset the windshield.
I am also looking to get a supplier for the windshield gaskets. Newell stated that they do not carry them. Any Suggestions/recommendations?
Also is this a common problem with these coaches?
I do have some time yet as it is still zero and a snow alert is on the way for next week.

Thanks.
Ferrel & Kara

[Richard and Rhonda]

Ferrel

It is a common problem. It can be caused by twisting the coach during leveling.

You should buy a windshield locking strip tool made by Lisle. It's 15 bucks, and you should keep it in the coach. You CANNOT put the locking strip back in the gasket without the tool.

Trust me on that one.

It's pretty simple task to remove the locking strip and reposition the gasket. I end up doing it about once per year it seems. I remove the locking strip just the top corners, and use plastic putty knifes to push the gasket back where I want it. It works best for me from the inside of the coach. Then I use soapy water and the tool to put the locking strip back in place.

Good luck on the gaskets, I do not know of a source for ready made.

[prairieschooner]

We had the same problem on our '82, I had the windshields replaced and they were able to save our gasket. I also had the windshields glued in to stop this from happening in the future. There was an alternative of a "universal" gasket that would have been made from extruded stock, I chose to save my original gasket and simply replace the glass.

[jwe648]

For what it's worth I'll chime in... In my quest of replacing the windshields on my previously owned 74' three windshields were broken and I purchased all the seal that Newell had in stock..(sorry) But what I discovered was that the seal & glass was made by a different manufacture than the original. What that ment was it didn't fit the hole and tried to pop out on the bottom outside corners. THe glass was broken trying to cut the glass..(hard to do) The seal was larger which did't help.. Causing the glass to not sit properly and to pop out. The end fix was to trim the hole to fit the glass & seal.. problem solved.. for me... What I noticed before the glass set properly there was a slight bulge of the glass behond the skin.. this indiates the glass is not seating properly.. with the holes correctly trimmed the glass set back in conture with the skin,, For what it's worth.... RV Glass Solutions has the seal and would most likley would reseal the windshields... they also reseal the double pane side glass that have fogged..

[HoosierDaddy]

I'm thinking that the rubber gasket is a fairly common item. When we replaced windshield on my '78 we had to trim the aluminum to get it to fit. Before we trimmed it, the glass would not set in "flush" with the body.
I had a local RV repair shop install the windshields on my '93. I thought they Glued the whole perimeter of the seal/body junction because they wanted the coach to set for at least 24 hrs after they installed so that it could cure.
When it comes to glueing or not...The classic coaches aluminum body surrounds the windshield thus transferring twisting torque to that area. I think that is less of a concern on the newer coaches with 100% composite type front caps.
Richard....I mean NO offence but I'm wondering if the seal is installed properly on your coach. I dont think that an annual "rework" on it should be necessary.
Remember that in a collision the windshield may be all that is keeping us in that coach. A few years ago we had a fatality not far from my house when someone went through a dislodged windshield of a tour bus during a collision.

These guys may be able to help find the proper rubber gasket:

http://www.steelerubber.com/

[Richard and Rhonda]

The rest of the story on my annual rework is that for some reason my coach is NOT equipped with an auto leveling computer. I have individual toggle switches for the four corners. It is very easy to twist the coach if I am not careful. Most of the times I have had to reset the windshield is when I have leveled the coach on some extreme or compound slope. It doesn't pop out, it does develop a small gap between the coach and the gasket at the driver upper corner. It whistles at highway speed, that's how I know it's time to get out the tool.

[prairieschooner]

I disagree with Richard on this one, sorry.
We had our new windshields replaced three seasons ago and our Glass has not moved. The Aluminum had been trimmed to fit the new glass prior to our purchase and the Glass was not glued in. In our case the outer corners at both windshields were "popped out", I expect that the prior installation was not performed properly.
We have run over 13,000 miles since our ownership and no movement to date, ours were in fact glued into place. I had the installers remove both Windshields and then made sure that the coach was level prior to the new windshield installation, I allowed the coach to "relax" if you will.
I agree that you should have a real good shop do this work! We had ours done at A Touch Of Glass in Yuma, AZ. They gave me a Lifetime Warranty on their work but I haven't need to go back.

[kdnelson]

I got a good reply to this question a few years back but lost the e-mail.
I was told (best of my memory) that there was an outfit in Washington or Oregon.
I would like to have that e-mail.

[rellick]

G'day kdnelson, is this for your 78 windshield popping out issue? Im not sure if this is the place you are looking for but they should be able to help you out
Peninsula Glass Company | Perfect Choice (http://www.peninsulaglass.com/) I have never had issues with my 77 and been on quite a few uneven roads. Must be your frame fit up like stated in the last posts. Hope this helps!!