Reglazing Vintage Woodlin Windows

[Fleet Skoolie]

Does anyone have any experience with this? Trying to get the gasket around the glass, then somehow manipulate the frame and squeeze the glass into it without breaking the glass, unseating the gasket or ruining the frame is proving to be very difficult.

[Alex Adams]

Put the gasket around the glass, coat it with soapy water and then try to get it into the frame. You should be able to gently pull the two sides out and that should help with getting the glass in. Just be careful not to bend the frame. Full disclosure, I have not done that on a trailer window but it worked for replacing a fixed window on my house.

[Fleet Skoolie]

Thanks. I tried exactly that. The gasket won't stay in place and the frame does not bend enough to provide the necessary space.

[Alex Adams]

Is the pane the original or did you have a new one made? If it was made, is it possible its too tight and needs to be a little smaller?

[Fleet Skoolie]

It’s the original.

[Alex Adams]

How did you get the pane out? Do you remember?

[Mike_L]

This can certainly be a challenge. I did it once on a trailer and a number of times on the rear windshield of my truck. In each case the glass had been broken. I'm not clear as to why you took it apart if nothing was broken. As previously mentioned, soapy water makes a great lubricant.

I put the gasket on the glass and then the glass in the frame. The glass and the frame are not very flexible. The gasket, depending on how old it is should be flexible but be careful as these things tend to dry out and may become brittle.
The glass fit in the frame without the gasket with space around all sides. This is the space the gasket occupies when the window is assembled. This space should be the same as the thickness of the gasket and tells you how much space you have to work with. I put the gasket on the glass, covered the gasket with soapy water and inserted two adjacent sides into the frame. I was able to compress the gasket on these two adjacent sides enough to allow the other two sides to be inserted into the frame. I used two plastic windshield scrapers to "ease" the glass into the final two sides.

[Mike_L]

If all else fails or you would rather not attempt, any glass shop could do this for a small fee.

[Fleet Skoolie]

Thanks