Rear window weather strip removal
- Thread starter Tad
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Park in the hot sun. Soap and work the rubber loose inside in out. Climb in car and put feet against window and apply pressure. Gentle pressure.Not in the middle. A helper would be handy, working rubber over glass with a plastic scraper of some kind. Would help to work rubber away from the metal pinchweld too.
If edge of glass has a chip it may break. Wont know until it comes out. I pushed window out of my barracuda, rubber remained intact.
If edge of glass has a chip it may break. Wont know until it comes out. I pushed window out of my barracuda, rubber remained intact.
Tinmannz
Well-Known Member
For the $100 or so it will cost you in a new gasket, get your utility knife out and cut the gasket and pop the window out. Otherwise you risk cracking your window trying to salvage a gasket that probably won't seal correctly when you go back to re-install it.
To answer your question, I have not. I figured if I'm going to take it down that far, I'm going to do it right and put in a new gasket and prep the pinch weld. You only want to do this once in your lifetime, unless you're a masochist. In which case, whatever floats your boat.
You don't mention the year or model of your car, but it only cost me $90 for the rear window gasket on my 71' Dart. It fits perfectly and doesn't leak.
To answer your question, I have not. I figured if I'm going to take it down that far, I'm going to do it right and put in a new gasket and prep the pinch weld. You only want to do this once in your lifetime, unless you're a masochist. In which case, whatever floats your boat.
You don't mention the year or model of your car, but it only cost me $90 for the rear window gasket on my 71' Dart. It fits perfectly and doesn't leak.
If his is anything like mine (64 Valiant 2 door sedan) 100 bucks ain't gonna get it done. Mine was 249 bucks from Steele Rubber.....the only company that makes them, PLUS I had to buy a lock strip separately, because the one in the kit has the mylar chrome on it and I wanted black.
Thank you for your feedback. I apologize, I did not mention the car. It is a 1965 dart GT. I’ve looked everywhere in the only rear window gasket I can find was like $300. Do you have any other information on where I could find a cheaper one?
You are correct! 65 dart two door hardtop. Can’t find anything under around $300 for the rear window seal. Also having a lot of trouble finding the door rubber that runs up around the windows that’s held in with the chrome molding.
All of those rear window gaskets are a Steele product and will run around $210 plus the insert. The network of vendors selling the Steele product line is quite small and there is nobody else producing this gasket, so no competition for lower pricing.
Personally, I would rather replace the gasket than trying to locate a good back glass.
Personally, I would rather replace the gasket than trying to locate a good back glass.
Tinmannz
Well-Known Member
No worries, it's just helpful when we know year/model.
Unfortunately that year and model isn't cheap, Lawson's Restorations (vendor on this site) has what appears what you need for $232.00. Still not cheap, but cheaper than $300.
I know money is tight and I get that we need to try and save at every corner, but if I could find my way to afford new, I certainly would make the effort.
Its the measure twice, cut once mentality. You really don't want to do this twice. But nobody would fault you for trying to save a few $$$, myself included. Especially in today's economic times.
I had a spare back window before i pushed the original glass out.
pishta
I know I'm right....
I pushed the rear glass out of my Barracuda with said "lay on back and use feet" method. It came out easily when someone is out there to catch it. I pushed a front out the same way, reused both gaskets but mine were in pretty good condition, warehoused for 16 years....1976 to 1993 when I bought it.
Another thought I had was, is the actual groove of the rubber different on different years or is it just the perimeter of the window that’s bigger or smaller? If the groove is the same I could always buy a larger one cut it and fit it to my window.
Even if you got it in nice and tight I think time and fluctuating temperature would cause the joint to separate and leak. I'm not even sure how you would get it in since the whole thing is installed in the pinch weld and then the glass is put in place into the gasket. Sounds like a nightmare keeping the gasket ends where you cut it in place while putting in the glass - just my 2 cents. The "cheap gaskets for my 70 Dart have " square corners" in the bottom, so adapting that $100 gasket might not work - those gaskets have no locking strip.
Thank you for the feedback. I’m actually looking at it again this morning and realizing this rear seal does not have a locking strip in it. Unlike the front where I could pull out the locking strip the back is a solid seal. Unless I’m missing something or it’s possibly on the inside. The only other automobile windows I’ve ever put in, and it’s been a lot of them, are for early Volkswagens. None of those have locking strips. We would always put the rubber around the window, run a rope cord around the inside of the pinch weld channel on the rubber, set the window in place with the gasket on it and then pull the cord. The rope would flip the lip of the gasket up around the pinch weld while someone applied pressure from the outside.
cudamark
Well-Known Member
That's the way I install them on your type of rubber gasket. On removing the glass, I use a wide putty knife to work the inside lip of the gasket to the outside of the pinch weld using mild pressure pushing the glass outward. Take your time and it will come out fairly easily unless your gasket is petrified. First I gently flex the rubber away from the body all the way around so I know it's free and not glued or stuck to the pinch weld. I usually start on the side section close to one upper corner and work my way around that corner and over to the other top corner. Then evenly work both sides toward the bottom. Usually by the time you get a bit over half way down on both sides, the glass with it's rubber will push out. The key to not breaking the glass or cutting the gasket is not to force anything or be heavy handed in prying. Back glasses are a lot tougher to break than a windshield, so, unless there is a flaw in the glass, or you get carried away, it's usually no problem.
crvtec90
Well-Known Member
Just like cudamark says. I should've made a video with my phone but got too involved. I will say lots of wd-40 and heat. Gentle persuasion like handling a baby.
My gasket was very stiff and glued all the way around with some sort of black goop. Butyl tape? I soaked it with wd40 and worked the gasket away from the glass as well as pinch weld with plastic interior trim tools. Liberal amounts of wd40. Pretty much the whole can and let it soak all night. Not sure if the wd40 will have adverse affects to the gasket but I wanted to try. Ive also read that you can soften the gasket with diesel but didnt try. Im gonna try and document in my resto thread
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cudamark
Well-Known Member
Yup, WD40 works good, it just makes a mess of the headliner if you're going to save it. A lube I've used on the installation is the old GoJo hand cleaner.....the non-grit, snotty stuff It's nice and slippery and cleans up pretty easily with soap and water. Neither one will hurt the rubber gasket.
crvtec90
Well-Known Member
Thats a good point! I wasnt worried about making a mess because the car is mostly disassembled. I used the wd40 can with the smart straw. Peel the gasket away a bit and squirt. Move a little bit to the side and repeat. All the way around the glass. Inside and out. Didnt really get any on the headliner but it did get all over the package tray area and in the trunk, so that would be a bad thing to get wd40 all over areas that are gonna get painted or need to stay clean.
There seems to be debate of using sealant or just installing dry. I have removed several front and rear windshields from early A bodies 63-66 and all of them have a foam tape and a bit of the black goop ( sometimes the goop is grey ). The foam tape is on the pinch weld and the black goop is inside and outside the rubber. I dont know if its entirely necessary to have it there but it makes sense to me. Dont know where to purchase it either. Just sharing.
cudamark
Well-Known Member
I don't think I'd use any kind of sealer that would harden. If you ever had to pull the glass again, that might a problem. On a windshield or any other gasket that uses a lock strip, a different procedure can be used both removing the glass and installing it. With a lock strip setup, sometimes it's better to install the gasket, and then install the glass. There again, you need to carefully peel the rubber around the glass without breaking it. With a new gasket, that would be easier than an old stiff one. Condition of the gasket would play a deciding part on which way to install should a new gasket not be available or it's cost is out of the budget. When I install the gasket first, I first remove any slag or sharp edges on the pinch weld. You could tape the lip if you would rather, say with some friction tape or similar. I use a gooey, putty like sealer between the gasket and the pinch weld. I don't tape if I use the rope install method as it tends to bunch up and get in the way of smoothly installing the glass/gasket assembly. With a good gasket, I haven't had any problem with leaks between it and the glass. It's always been between the gasket and the frame where I've seen the leaks....or the wiper post seals! I guess it's possible though. If you could inject a small bead of non-hardening sealer on the outer lip between the glass and the gasket, that would probably work great, then install the lockstrip to seal it up tight.
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