The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Windshield Seal Leaks

I ended up in a rainstorm for the first time about a week ago and the windshield seal leaked like a sieve. It seems like the seal (purchased from LMC) isnt wide enough on the corners to actually cover the opening. I bought a tube of windshield seal urethane and attempted to seal around the edge under the lip. That helped some but it still is leaking pretty good. I know years ago when I put the glass in an old VW I bought "California Seals" which had a wider lip on them. Is there anything like that available for these trucks or does anyone have any suggestions on getting this thing to seal?

"these trucks"? year? opening windshield? Steele Rubber makes the best repro rubber

Bill

Sorry, 51 1/2 ton

Dave,AFAIK there's only two profiles available,Deluxe (for chromes) and standard but as Bill (red58) already mentions the quality of aftermarket parts varies considerably,something you should recognise from your VW days....

Steele are generally considered to be the best available,and i'm not sure if it matters to you but they're made in the good 'ole US of A,not something you hear so much these days....

The problem is not so much the width of the outer lip,but moreso the actual profile,it's a very basic set-up.

You really need to seal the glass to rubber and rubber to body.

The other problem as I found out myself was the glass was wrong at the lower corners,it just wasn't big enough to 'push' the rubber out to the corners to meet the bodywork.

Look familiar?

I also think the aftermarket guys err on the safe side by making the glass slightly smaller,or perhaps they really just don't care as long as they get your $$$.

Yep, that picture is pretty much it. Not quite that bad but definitely in the same place. The guy that I had originally bought the truck from had a lot of parts in bags still but never got around to installing them. Most were from LMC and I used them. Two big issues so far have been that seal and the door seals. I tried to install the door seals but there was absolutely NO way the door would close with them installed. I pulled them back off and decided to look for a different supplier. Soff Seal is who I used for a long time on other projects but they dont seem to make anything for my truck, which by the way is a standard, not the deluxe seal. So . . the glass may be an issue as well. Any suggestions on that?

Is the glass original? Or made from an original pattern

Honestly . . . I have no idea. I would assume it is aftermarket but dont know what or where. It does have those corners though. I bought the truck a few years back and the gent I bought it from had done a "redneck restoration" on it and it was pretty rough. It seems that If I didnt replace or rebuild it when I went through it (total frame off) it has broken or malfunctioned in the 1500 miles I have on it so far.

For the door seals try Patricks. patricksantiquecars.com.

Dave,that picture was of the bottom curve as you know but mine were out at the top corners too!
I'd be suprised if your glass was all original,if so chances are the glass would at least be showing its age,I would at least expect some de-lamination or yellowing.

Bottom line is I recut my windshields after making templates from 3/8" Plywood.
What I did discover was the left hand (drivers side) aperature was 'tweaked' due to some accident trauma in the past so my left glass is ever so slightly different from the right,but not so bad as to show.
I do have a slight advantage as I do this for a living.

They're a dang sight better now,but even then I still sealed them well.
If yours aren't as bad as mine were I would persevere with the sealer,unless you want to go down the new glass route.

I have exactly the same situation Jock describes- both top and bottom. I used the Steele Rubber product. It would no doubt stretch into the corners if it had a little more help from the glass. I had 2 new windshields cut from the 2 pieces I removed. Those two pieces appeared to be original and were identical in profile. However, I did not compare the two new pieces to the two old ones.

Chuck