Lately there has been several threads with all sorts of questions on water leaks especially side windows. Our “Q” of coaches in line for work happened to bring in another leaker so I thought I’d throw in a few thing for the Facebook folks intent on doing this to their coach.
So here’s the first big concept……most water get in from the gap between the window frame and body…….. Get up close and examine the crack caused when the nor what 40 year old burly tape was squished in place when the window went in.
this is where most of the water is coming in but as you can see, the rubber on the glass has pulled away in the corner and have badly shrunk and the black frame looks pretty bad…….lets fix them all with one action. Yep and you can do it….but I want you, this is not an “alacart” kinda thing……do each step in order and your outcome will be good…….go off the reservation saying I’ll skip this or I don’t need that? Like you WANT Henry Ford’s first attempt at a car?
Step 1 is not to seal this crack, that actually will be last. First you want to replace the rubbers, pull the fixed glass…dig out all the dead sealant
then reseal the fixed glass, replace the smaller of the 2 sizes of rubber extrusion around that fixed glass. When you pull the glass…..btw, with the old rubber out, remove the vertical bar in the middle of the window and slowly pull the fixed glass free.
now “bag” off the window on the body with 3/4″ green mask take no more than 1/8″ away from the frame on the body then add paper to stop any overstay of black. OK now with the small fixed and the larger slider rubber installed, prep, lightly sand and paint the frames with a self etching trim black satin finish shaker can spray paint. Yes, get the paint on the rubber and spill over into the glass………the black paint soaks right into the rubber giving it more of a barrier for UV degradation, shrinking and all that…..and a fresh razor blade will not only take the paint right off the glass you can clean the whole window probably better than its been cleaned in decades…..a win-win!
Hey but we haven’t sealed the frame to the body yet! Calm down, that’s next……. Now with light aggressive orange mask tape now tape off the other side of that crack on the fresh bleach frame paint….oh yea, go start work on another window and give the paint maybe 2 hours to dry……..
So now we have a small gap between the Orange and green tape
now with black architectural RTV siloconesquirt a continuous bead so the way around the frame…..wipe over it with your finger…may want to wear a glove…..while out the access then immediately pull the Orange a green masking tape. The still soft RTV will skin up and flow smoothly to make a good looking, very functional seal which is what you though you wanted. What you really Needed to do is refurbish everything on that window. btw, with the fixed glass out, clean out the 40 years of gunk caked in the tracks and get the slider glass to actually slide! It will amaze you how really functional these original windows are!
We have all the materials you will need to do this including the awesome green and orange mask tape…..don’t freak when u hear the cost of the stuff…..trust me, there is a reason to use it….remember don’t go off reservation on this…you will get bleedthru and pull paint if you use tan mask tape hey….but it’s your choice and finished product…….
And yes, some of you are calling that gratuitous advertising……wait a minute, I AM a business, I NEED income to keep paying for things so if this is a project you want to do….hey support The Co-op, get the parts from us….will be a care package with everything u will need. When you call I’ll need to know a few things about your coach and window frame but I can tell you close to the total cost…..in my head I’m saying the big window is @ $70. The others take less material. This is using the right materials and doing it right! All the contrary stuff you hear well, 27 years of doing this has come up with this process and it works!
Some of you out there are thinking, “enough of this window stuff….lets talk fuel tanks……..well ok then…..our test coach has its new and improved single fuel tank installed
with its designed feed sump
a pile of work but its the right thing to do……
So now I hear it……BUT WHY? We must cut open any fuel tank going as scrap
……I swear to ha we found this in one of the tanks we cut open
heres a closer shot
likr striking gold nuggets of rust coagulation laquer chunks………amother one looked clean but if you look close there’s a white film covering the entire interior of the tank………still no good
So it’s off to the scrap yard for these rust buckets
we’re. Changing out the steer box on out test coach and I’m giving it a road test today
So the big question…how much. Again we are a business trying to pay taxes and all that……..these @ 10 hours labor, some misc parts and the 40+ gallon tank……..modification to the coach is critical so it’s a bummer but we need to do the install. Its @ $2000+/- 10% materials and labor. Be sure u have AAAplus with an RV endorsement because when your dirty fuel stops flowing to your motor…….u will stop……$600 a tank to line just 1 original tank with no guaranty………this is a great upgrade and a good deal on all new stuff and answering some perplexing problems with our fuel system……basically today it stinks!
And I need to stop this thread and get to work. Gonna be another hot one here………..sweat on my nose….that’s us! Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your support
