Ok, I'm trying to get a winshield out. I've never done this before. How do I do it?

I've already taken a razor blade and cut into the rubber as much as I could but now the window seems to be "sticking" to the rubber underneath it ( around the perimeter). I only get one chance on this guys and dolls so.. lets make this a clean one, k?

The factory used butel rubber to seal windscreen. I use a medium gauge

guitar string with a piece of dowel at eather end. Hook that to the underside

between the glass and the rubber and use it like a knife. You can draw it back

and forth to help cut thru the rubber but watch you don't scratch the glass that

shows when it is installed.

Harbor Frieght sells a windshield removal tool. I picked it up for $10 or so, and had my windshield out in less than 10 minutes no problem. The tool has a T-handle attached to a cable with a cutting blade attached to the other end. Just insert the blade between the glass and butel and slowly pull the blade. Do the top and both sides and the windshield should rock forward and release.

If all else fails, and I broke one windshield before finding the tool trying the wire method, Saftylite sells 914 windshields installed in Phoenix for $235. I would guess you could find them elsewhere about the same.

Glenn, Slits... you guys paying attention?

I'm lovin the guitar string method! I'm a bassist so I guess my strings are too fat, huh?!


Once I have the window seperated from the car, can I just lift it out? Will it crack? Do I need another set of hands to support it?

If you don't have a glass cup I would sudjest that you have someone help

you, you can do it yourself but help is nice. When it is out put a couple of wood

blocks on the ground next to a wall or whatever and set the glass on the blocks

then put a block in between the glass and the wall at the top where the glass will

touch the wall. Yeah to fat it will be easier with a smaller dia. string.

Sombody talkin' at me .... huh ..... Hello..... Heeeellllllooooo ..... anybody there.











Damn hearing aid batteries must be dead again. Oh well .....

I just removed my windshield this past week-end.

I used a piece of steel wire I had lying around, wrapped one end around a short piece of broom stick (handle).
I then poked the other end through the butyl seal and wrapped that end around a second piece of broom stick.

I simply see-sawed around the top and sides of the windshield.

After pushing the top of the windshield outwards, I used a utility knife to cut most of the bottom seal.

The windshield simply lifted out of the frame very easily.

By the way, it is very light and can easily be lifted out by one person.

All I have left to do is clean the butyl off the glass and frame.

Good luck!

Ok, so the consense is that this is utterly possible and a pretty simple job. thanks to one and all. THANKS TO ONE AND ALL ( for slits)

I was very very careful taking mine out the other night... before i read this thread. I used a small pick to break the seal between the windsheild and the frame. Wire would have been a great idea but... thats what a i get for not reading here first.

it took me about an hour. I had both sides and the top completely free but when i lifted it out it cracked from top to bottom in two spots. i would recomend having a friend help. I didnt THINK i tweeked it but it did crack. Looks like i'll be payin that 235 when the car is done

Hey Dan, what do you mean by bottom seal?...is there a separate rubber seal there?

Does anyone have any pics of what this looks like when you have the windshield out?

-L

When I was younger I tried to remove mine (probably crudely). Wire trick sounds great. Do you go all the way around with the wire? Glass is very delicate at the edges- I can see how leveraging it forward would stress the bottom edge.

Anyway, I had to buy a new one. Got it delivered and installed from some place in Santa Ana for $115. That was ten years ago.

here's an old post I wrote a few years ago. Might be of some help:

Hey Boys,

I was an auto glass installer in a prior life.

Couple things to add

1. Whether heating the seal will help depends on what is holding in the windshield. There are 2 proper methods and one bad, but common improper one. The proper methods are Urethane caulk and butyl tape. The bad one is silicone caulk. BAD, VERY BAD!!Heat will only help if it is butyl tape. You will know its tape if from the INSIDE of the windshield, when you stick something into it (i.e. wire, nail etc.) it has a consistancy like chewing gum. It is common to cover the tape with another sealer like silicone or urethane on the outside, so the outside surface is not a good indicator. Tape is cut with a hot knife in a glass shop, and it literally cuts like butter. But, like I said, it is normally top coated with urethane, which doesn't react much to heat. SO, for the do it yourselfer, your best bet is piano wire. Piano wire will cut anything used to install a windshield. You could swing by you local glass shop, and I'm sure they would sell you several feet for a few bucks. Glass shop wire is not actual piano wire anymore, but rather a similar wire with abrasives imbedded in it.

Rather than vise grips to hold the wire, a better method is to drill a thru the middle (the short way) of two 6" ish pieces of old broom handle or similar round object. You thread the wire thru the holes, and twist it off, so you end up with a handle like the pull handle on a lawn mower, at each end. You wire ONE end as I descibed, then, push the other end thru from the inside of the car out, in an upper corner with needle nose, as described above. pull it thru on the outside by grabbing the end with the needle nose and pull thru. THEN twist up that end like the first. It is easiest to cut out the windshield with 2 people, one in and one outside the car. If you find that as you cut, the seal sticks back together, then you have a seal that is at least based on a strip of butyl tape. You simply need to apply outward pressure as you cut initially. Once you have cut far enough that there is a decent gap between the winshield and the tape bed, just stick objects in like a screw driver or such to prevent the winshield from making contact with the tape untill you have cut the whole thing.

Also, be very careful of your dash as you cut. I ALWAYS put a piece of smooth sheet metal about 18" long over the dash where the dash meets the windshield, and move it along as a I cut . Any thin hard surface will do. The key is to make CERTAIN that the wire is not touching the dash as you are pulling back and forth to cut. One stroke across the dash with that wire will make an irrepairable cut. Trust me.

There are a number of other things you might want to know about this whole windshield gig, but the above should get it out fer ya. If you want to know more, just say the word. None of it is rocket science.

Chris

Anyway, I had to buy a new one. Got it delivered and installed from some place in Santa Ana for $115. That was ten years ago.
=============================================
The guy in Santa Ana is still around - while he was putting a new windshield in my truck I had him pull the 914 one. Did it in 5 minutes with the "tool" and for free.
Got a price on a new one - about $125 for one with tint and $175 for a clear one - includes installation - can't beat it.

[quote name='CHAFF' date='Nov 1 2006, 11:39 PM' post='807705']
Hey Dan, what do you mean by bottom seal?...is there a separate rubber seal there?

-L

[/quote]
[/quote]

No separate rubber seal, I meant cutting out the butyl tape at the bottom of the windshield.

Dan

When I was younger I used a shotgun... Seemed to be the quickest way to remove a windsheild.

Always keep a shootin' car on hand.

-L

I tried the guitar string thing.. I went through three strings in about 3 minutes!

I'm gonna have to find some piano wire or hop on over to Harbor Freight and see what I can find. thanks for all the advice and tips, though. Every little bit of info is helping!