Tackling Back Glass Installation Alone…
For reasons passing understanding, I had a bug up my behind on Saturday to get the back glass installed. Of course my live-in helper (also known as my brother) was out-of-town, and I hadn’t done much planning, so I endeavored to install the glass alone. Again, I don’t know what possessed me to do this, but I did. And it worked…eventually.
The fact that the windshield installed so easily gave me false confidence. Getting the back glass installed, even with a helper, would have been an ordeal. The primary area of trouble was/is the bottom corners. On the windshield all the corners are gradual, smooth curves. But the bottom corners on the rear window (on a coupe, at least) are sharp angles with heavy, hard-to-manipulate rubber edges.
I can’t imagine how difficult it would have been to try this with the foreign-made gasket. The US-manufactured gasket is a much softer, more pliable rubber, so it pulls in easily. And even then, I had to make three attempts to get the glass to seat.
Third Time’s the Charm…
The first time I went the conventional route and placed the gasket on the glass, ran a bead of sealer inside the channel, and placed my pulling string. I was able to pull the gasket in everywhere but the bottom corners, which were extremely tight. The second time I tried putting the gasket in the opening first and then pulling the gasket over the glass. That worked for the corners but made other areas more difficult. The third time I did a mixture. I put the glass into the gasket everywhere but the bottom corners and then fiddled with those until I had it seated.
I haven’t run the sealer around the edges yet, but as soon as I do that and polish the stainless trim for the windshield, I’ll be done with glass!