Anybody know if I need one tube or two tubes of urethane adhesive to put in a new windshield in an 88 F250 XLT? Do you know the size of the bead when you lay it down? Does the urethane bead get applied to the windshield or pinch weld? Can one person set the windshield or is that almost impossible to do?

Thanks...

 

My neighbor does windsheilds, I've watched him put three in my truck. He used one tube with a 1/2" bead, and did it himself. Now with that said, if I were doing it (not just watching) I would get two tubes, and have a friend help (just in case).
I was a harbor freight the other day, and say they had suction cup for curved glass for like three bucks each. I do commerical storefront (glass) and without my cup, I would be working.

 

Oops. Apply to the truck, then set the glass on the rubber blocks to level it and squish. On second thought; thinking about it, I'm not sure if he used one on each side, or the whole thing. I'll ask him, if he's out today.

 

get a 2nd set of hands and after making sure all contact surfaces are clean have the glass on your tailgate with an old rug to keep scratches away, most u/thane tips are cut so that when you apply the adhesive its in the shape of a v make sure that its at least 1/2 inch tall and apply this bead to the outer edge of the glass start at the bottom and go all the way around without stopping especially at the top and that is due to water leaks occurring there, make sure you have the lower stops in place and proceed to lay the glass in place pressing ever so lightly to make sure you have good contact all the way around and snap the trim moulding back in place

 

Well, the truck is sitting in the driveway with the old windshield out. Once I got it out, it looked like there was an original rubber and foam seal directly on the pinch weld and with urethane adhesive on top of that. I would say the whole thing had a stack up of about 5/16 to 3/8 inch high. I removed all that so that I am down to the pinch weld with just a millimeter or two of the original material left on it.

I picked up a couple of the suction cups from Harbor Freight and used those when I pulled the old one out. They worked pretty good and since it was the old windshield I jerked it around a bit to see if they would hold, they did..

So, I am at the point of deciding to attempt this on my own. I am thinking I will dry fit the windshield and mark the glass and body with masking tape for horizontal position. There are spacers under the bottom edge of the glass from the last windshield change. I think I will put the urethane on the pinch weld (3M instructions) then using the suction cups to hold it, set it on edge on a piece of carpet on the hood and slowly rotate it into place. Just a little uncertain if one tube of urethane will be enough. My 92 chev van only took one but can't remember if the windshield is about the same size or not. Would be easier to put it on the glass instead of the pinch weld to get a more even flow.

Guess I will think about it some more over night.

 

throw the cups away and handle the glass with your hands apply the adhesive to the pinch weld and with both lower stops in place, tand on the drivers side and place the glass on the pass side stop and then slowly lower the glass to the drivers side block and then allow the glass to just lay itself in along the top trying your best to not get any adhesive on you. that is how you know the techs that have done it a few times is are their hands clean good luck and dont forget to use a plastic knife to make sure that where you butted up the adhesive at the top you will make sure that they are well mixed and then snap the mouldings back on

 

Ok, its installed.. Waiting for the urethane to cure so I can check for water and air leaks and reinstall the inside trim (trim pushes against the windshield a little since I took out all the old urethane)... I did use the suction cups.. Made it easier to steady it on the hood before laying it into place... I used one foot on a short ladder and a knee very lightly for balance on the hood... The hood is strong enough to use for balance as long as you don't put full weight on it... That let me reach the other suction cup and made it easier to lay down...

I only used the one tube of urethane and had a little left over.. Could have cut the notch in the tube tip a little wider but it looks like it squished out all around the windshield both inside and outside so should be a good seal... Biggest pain was getting the urethane bead consistent and large enough all the way around the pinch weld...

BTW, the original seal that looked like rubber with foam on the inside was urethane. The foam is a "windshield dam" and is only 1/4 inch foam tape that goes on the windshield to keep urethane from squishing to the inside and gives a better appearance inside the truck.. Its not needed since the inside trim covers the windshield to pinch weld joint. If you don't use it, you may have to trim a little of the squished urethane so the inside trim seats close to the windshield however...

 

I'm curious about leaks when you test.

 

Yup, two leaks with the water test... One is upper left corner and the other is upper right corner... I didn't find any leaks along the top, sides or bottom using a hose with a nozzle.. Just finished cleaning the urethane out of the corners so I can squeegee in some more... Have to wait for the corners to dry first...

I noticed as I was leak checking from the inside that both leaks are coming right where the roof welds to the post and the pinch weld... I also noticed that both corner welds seem to create a "trough" as if the pinch weld is pushed down towards the inside.. On the passenger side, I found that a bubble was created in the urethane over that joint... In retrospect, I should have built up the corners first and then put the bead over it instead of the other way around... That would have ensured a good seal to this "trough" and weld joint...

One other item I notice is that the windshield sits a whole lot closer to the pinch weld.. Learn by doing, bigger bead of urethane and don't push the windshield down as hard... I tended to be aggressive on pushing it down to make sure I had a good seal all the way around... It looks like the trim will not lay completely down against the windshield when I re-install it because the windshield sits back farther.... I still think that one tube of urethane (3M Window Weld) is enough but the trick is getting the notch in the nozzle the correct size... I recommend renting or borrowing a power caulking gun... My hands got a little tired and a power gun lets you focus on a consistent speed of application adding to the consistency of the bead....

 

i used a power gun for many years but now just use an 18 to 1 ratio gun and on certain adhesives i have a 24 to 1 getting the trim to lay flat if it is still off the truck see if you can roll the molding with your hands to close the gap and i mean just squeeze the molding in your hands and try to change the angle of the trim many years of pumping the glue will give your hands some extra grip it does make a difference especially when someone shakes your hand

 

Ok, had to take a trip out of town but back now... I resealed the upper corners but alas more leaking.. What I found however is that it is not the actual windshield seal that leaks in the corners but rather the roof to post/pillar weld joint... The water will go into the joint where the roof turns down into the windshield channel, run down the inside of the joint, and come out on the inside of the windshield... The paint being old is cracked along the seam of the weld joint which doesn't help.. I do have to repaint the roof (88 paint peel problem) so I guess that is the time to fix the leak in the joints at the two upper corners... Just trying to decide whether to use body filler or drip stop in the crack and then paint... If I had realized that it was a problem earlier, I probably would have welded the seam closed from the outside before I put in the new windshield..

 

This is interesting----that there is a foam dam/tape on the endside of the windshield to keep the urethane from squishing into the visible inside of the windshield that isnt covered by the inside molding.

All of the trucks I have seen that had windshields "professionally" installed had visible squished uneven line of urethane on the inside perimeter of the windshield-very ugly.

My truck has this ugly squished urethane on the inside of the windshield. Is it possible to cut this hard,dry urethane with a knife and get a professional straight line of urethane ? How easy does old dried urethane cut? Without cutting/scratching the glass?

 

The oem installed windshield from the factory was supposed to have the dam in place but I think many installers skip that step to make it cheaper and easier for them to do.. I have trimmed the urethane with either a razor blade or box knife but it isn't really easy to do.. I would think you wouldn't have much room to work on it plus you might disturb it and cause a leak...

Now, on to the corner leaks........... I trimmed out a little of the urethane in the corners to get at the seam between the roof metal and the post metal down below the level of the windshield... I used a small chisel to bend up the seam about a sixteenth to eighth inch all the way along.... Guess what... The two pieces of metal aren't even welded at the seam... The roof piece was simply bent down at the factory to press against the post... There wasn't any sealer in between the two at all either so it was an open channel for water to get inside.. Looks like they relied upon the paint to seal the joint.. With age the paint has cracked along the seam leaving it open...

So, after bending the two slightly apart, I sanded and scraped away paint and dirt to get a clean joint.. I then squirted 3M Drip Check into the seam following it from the drip rail moulding down into the window channel.. Squeeged it even deeper into the joint with a finger, added more drip check to the seam and tapped (bent) the roof metal back down against the post metal.... Then I created a little fillet of the drip check over the seam... Its drying now... Once its dry, I will add a little more urethane at the windshield corners to overlap the drip check just a bit to seal between them... Once that is dry, I will check it for leaks...

I do have the advantage that I will be repainting the roof and posts so I wasn't worried about scraping away at the joint to get the drip check to bare metal... The drip check is paintable so I will sand the joint smooth and then paint over it as part of the finish work once I confirm the leaks are gone...

 

Would it be possible to use a X-ACTO type of hobby knife to try to cut the uneven excess urethane from the inside of the windowshield? I would try to find a long X-ACTO very sharp knife. The excess urethane is sure unsightly when sitting in the cab.

I cant believe that "Professional" windshield installers would make a mess like this. It seems that they are more worried about speed and leakfree installation-and not appearance.

 

Well, I am not an expert so it is up to you what you try... An exacto knife would cut it but you might scratch the black windshield coating also... I think I would be inclined to go get some foam tape and cover it up kind of like the original dam material... Here is a link to a place to buy the windshield dam but I don't know how easy or hard it would be to try and cover up the urethane:

1/4" x 1/4" x 18' Marcy Windshield Dam Tape

I didn't use it on my windshield. Since I removed all the old urethane down to the pinchweld, what urethane that squished out seems to be hidden pretty well by the interior trim moulding. I think that is because my windshield sets a good 5/16 inch closer to the pinchweld and hence the interior trim mould. I also under used the urethane as I had about a quarter of the tube left over so there was less to squish out.

The last windshield I had done professionally was on a 92 Chev van and they didn't use the dam material. It ended up with big ugly squish in several places on the inside.........