Getting a new windshield.

[cardude]

No limit to the advice on this subject! I'm hoping my experience will help someone else avoid the frustration that can overwhelm doing this. It's really pretty simple in hindsight, but it comes with one hell of a learning curve!

Got my glass from Summit, gasket from Precision. After calling out the only glass shop that would bother, the guys that showed up took one look and practically ran away, scared to death!
Later that day they called back and said "no problem, we can install it for $300.00"!
That just re-enforced my instinct to keep 'um away from my truck! If you want something done right............

I tried at first (many, many times) with the aid of my better half and by installing from the bottom, with a screwdriver with a bent, smoothed out tip.
Ended up failing miserably, trim kept popping out on top, almost caused a divorce, and got me to thinking.

Decided to try using these suction cups I had from a window replacement project on the house, doing away from having to "instruct" the wife where and when to push on the glass!
They're up to the task; the windows I pulled out of the house were 8'x5' 1/4" thick plate glass!


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And this invaluable tool I got online: https://www.gtglass.com/collections/...t-locking-tool

I assembled everything on padded sawhorses, using extra, overlapping separate short ropes for just the top corners. Trim pre-installed. Blue-taped everything up real good. Soaked the gasket inside with lots of Windex to slick it all up. Attached the suction cups on the inside and set the the windshield on a blanket on the hood, suction cups up.

Reached out from the inside, grab the unit, and start it in FROM THE TOP!! If you try using logic and start it from the bottom the top trim won't clear the gutter and will pop out at the top every time at the end and cause you to go postal! If you just set the unit on the top of the pinchweld and keep an eye on it during the install it will stay up far enough to keep it relatively in place.

I worked my way from the top left corner over to just past the middle, keeping one hand pulling on a suction cup all the time. Then down the left side to the bottom, pulling the tape out as I went. Then back and forth working the whole unit in more or less from the left to the right, with the top farther along than the bottom, (the glass will bend just a tiny bit lengthwise without breaking, BUT NOT MUCH!!), ending up at the bottom right corner. After every foot or so I'd stop and grab both suction cups and gave 'um a tug in and up and a bit more to the left to keep it all in place. This is the key to success here!



A little at a time is the name of the game. This worked really slick for me. The GT pick tool was VERY effective; I slipped a few times and didn't scratch anything!

A little disclaimer: I think I ended up ripping the channel between the trim groove and the pinchweld groove on my first attempts when I was furiously trying to get the last bit of the top left corner in at the end, because when I finally succeeded (doing it right a couple weeks later) it had a leak on the left side. I tried sealing up the gasket (with the CRL sealant) all the way around the inside and the outside but still had a small leak. I then sealed the trim as much as I could and now am down to a little tiny drip when it really rains. So I improvised for the time being with a funnel underneath at the weep hole through a hose down to the vent to keep my foot (and my fuse panel!) dry when it rains!
Come time to restore, I'll replace the gasket!