[Corey]

I changed one of mine a couple years ago. It’s not bad, especially if you buy the tools for the purpose. The gasket is probably reuseable, mine never even came out of the body. Sprayed some soapy water to help the glass slip into the gasket. Put the curved end of the glass into the gasket first. Be patient and work the glass into the gasket slowly from top and bottom alternately.

[Corey]

Have your replaced glass like this before?

I’ve seen it recommended to engage the evening services of a regular auto glass guy to do it. Hopefully he lives nearby he might work for beer.

I understand Jeff Rowe has the out with the old and in with the new down to 12 or 13 minutes.

[joel]

While I believe the seals to be reusable, I personally would not re-use a 22 year old piece of rubber.

---

1999 XLV X-6872,  liberty #440

[Jerry]

If you use the ‘regular glass’ guy do not let him use that black glass seal or the next time you replace a windshiled, you wil probably be replacing the rubber also. Ask me how I know this.

[Reagan]

Fred…

I can pretty much guess, but go ahead & tell us anyway. 😉

How do you know this??

[Archived]

I had a GMC PD 4107 that I changed the windshield on a
couple of times and considered myself fairly competent since it took about 30
minutes per side.Had a crack in my 2001
H on the driver side that crept up into my visual range so decided to replace
it.Ordered the glass had most of the
tools, but ordered the tool to easily replace the center sealing strip. If you
have no tools, the plastic pry bars and double suction cups are available at
Harbor Freight for less than $20 total.

Got everything ready and started.Pulled the zip strip and attempted to flex
the rubber from the glass.Nope, glued
down.Spent the next 4 hours with a
steel putty knife prying the glass from the sealant.Glass still stuck in places and glass shattered all
to pieces when trying to remove it, tiny glass shards that found most, if not
all of my fingers were everywhere.Finally got the glass out, but the sealant was stuck in splotches all
over the rubber and I was concerned that it would prevent a good seal between
the glass and rubber so started gently pulling it from the rubber.After about 2 hours of this, I stumbled on
the method of grabbing a part of the sealant with a small pair of needle nose
pliers and rolling it onto the pliers.Worked well and really speeded things up.

I am now about 7 hours into a 30 minute job.Finally got the rubber cleaned of sealant and
put the new glass in place, ran the rubber center seal strip in place and was
done.All in about 8 hours.Unfortunately, my wife had told me that if I
got a new windshield, so did she because she had some rock chips, so next
morning I got everything together and started on her side.Whoopee, no sealant.Done in about 30 minutes.Since then have been in a couple of heavy
rains and down bursts in addition to multiple washes with no leaks.

We need to remember that these buses are designed as
commercial vehicles.Commercial vehicles
make no money when sitting for 8 plus hours getting a windshield replaced.Most common repairs are designed to be done
in a rather expedient manner and a windshield is a common repair, so should be
able to be accomplished quickly at a routine stop.Hint.If you do this on the four glass fronts, and have no scaffolding, just
pull a pick-up sideways with the bed very close to the front of the bus.You now have an eight-foot scaffold when you
stand in the bed and by stepping onto the side wall, you can easily reach the top
of the windshield.Those of you with the
2 glass front … get help.

[Marshall]

Good job Fred, some bozo glued one of mine in as well, very time consuming to correct.

[Joe]

On the XL coaches, if possible I reuse the seal, the new seal is differant and is a job to get the windshield back in typically….

[Archived]

Thanks for the replys,Fred do you drink beer? Maybe you could bring the Elcamino by

and we could stand in it.

[Archived]

I actually used my son’s Dodge Ram for my scaffold. No need scratching the El Camino.