We had a brief shower and I opened the passenger door right after it and noticed water dripping.
It has to be rusted through below the trim at the top of the windshield.

Has anyone removed the trim strips ??
Do they just pop off ??
Is there a special place to start and a sequence for removing ??

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

any auto parts store should have the tool you need, it looks like an L shaped screwdriver.

 

Does anyone know if there is a special place to start .................Top...Corners......Bottom ??

Do they just snap off or is there some kind of release beneath them ??

 

I've never known of a particular place to start, but pick a place where you're at least trying to lever off the upper layer of chrome (some trim overlaps the other trim pieces--start with a top piece).

The trim is held on by a number of clips that are snapped into the back side of it. The idea is to pop the trim off of the clips, leaving the clips on the truck.

Don't worry if the clips themselves may be rusty, under the trim. The clips can then be popped off of their single and double "T" shaped pins and replaced. Basically, the pins look like a small, short nail and head sticking from THE SIDE of the groove the windshield fits down into. I say single and double b/c the larger clips on the bottom (and top?) of the windshield bite onto two pins each--the rest are singletons. To get your mind around this, understand the the pins on each "A pillar" of the truck are actually pointing at each other, head-to-head. That is NOT the direction you want to pop the chrome off--the chrome wants to go up, directly away from the glass....

Two Cautions:

1. Back to the trim: it pries UP off of the truck. Don't try to pry the trim toward the center of the windshield, for example, or you could pry the welded pin right out of the groove the windshield sits down inside (been there, done that). In other words, don't stick the trim tool down into the gap between the trim and the edge of the windshield groove. You're going to be in the same area, but the difference is in where you direct the tool:

Start from the paint side of the trim (not the glass side) and slide the tool under the trim, and then PRY UP, away from the truck, and NOT toward the center of the windshield. This is the direction the trim went down ONTO the clip, and it's the direction it has to come UP off of it.

2. Do NOT pry against the glass, with the trim tool. You can easily crack the windshield (see above--happily, I learned these things during a necessary glass-change anyway.)

If your truck is nicer than mine, you'd better wash it first and have a rag to put b/w the trim tool and the paint.

Sorry so windy--it's not as easy to explain as I thought.

Oh, and if you've got a leak, your journey's just begun, I'm afraid. Sealing the windshield over the top of the original sealant (after removing as much as you can of the shot sealant) seems to only work for a couple of years. Reseating the windshield, by a professional, is the cure.

If you're truck is like mine was (an '88 F-150) the rust was quite bad, (a few pinholes, much rough, pitted metal) and I did a full-on rust removal/conversion, with attendant fiberglassing of the troubled areas (probably unnecessary) before the windshield company would guarantee the job not to leak.

I will use an "air needler" next time, and save myself the endless chiseling with a light hammer and sharp chisel, to remove the rust in the pits. Of course, if you don't remove the rust, it will leak within months.

Peter

 

Great !!!
Thanks quicklook......on my way to Federated to grab a tool now.

BigSix you answered all my questions and I think you're help has prevented me from damaging some stuff that isn't viewable with the strips still on.

Thanks for taking the time to give such a comprehensive and detailed answer.

Thanks much.

 

netscanner,

Wow! Thank you very much for your kind praise! I'm glad you found my writing helpful.

I apologize I'm just a year and a week overdue in responding, but I didn't see this earlier. How did the repair go? My guanteed-not-to-leak-due-to-my-rust-removal windshield has, in fact, not leaked, in the intervening two years, so I'm pretty pleased with myself. Though I do think I went a little over the top with making sure the windshield bed was extra-smooth, with body filler, given the amount of "goop" the pros used to install the windshield. In other words, I coulds have left it rougher and it still would have sealed. Expecially since I saw how rippled the metal was, in the windshield bed, from Ford's original stamping. Still, the rust removal was worth it, though, as I say, I'll use an air needler, if I ever do another one, instead of a small hammer and chisel, which took forever.

Anyway, thanks again--my ego loved your kind words! LOL

Happy truckin'.

BigSix1

 

Hey BigSix,...........It went well.
Actually there was little rust under the chrome strips.
I cleaned out the gap just above the glass where it meets the adhesive and poured goop all along the top edge of the windshield.

Seems dry ever since.