My big jalousies are in serious need of some love but I started with the curb side because it needed the most work. Broken pane of glass, wonky crank operator and the seals were in pretty nasty shape.
I wasn't sure how long it would take to clean it up and get everything replaced and back together but let me say it's taken a lot longer than I had anticipated. Most of the delay was because I had to wait for parts since I wasn't sure what it might need until it was out. Also since these windows are not easy to find I did NOT want to break anything I couldn't fix
Drilling out the rivets and removing the window took me about a half hour and went pretty smoothly. At this point it didn't seem like it would take too long.
Disassembling the window into its components didn't take too long either. I did use a bit of heat initially to help break the screws loose. I was being a bit paranoid. Shoutout to Ian Giles for his great Youtube disassembly video.
The frame was pretty darn grungy so the lions share of the work involved was to get it cleaned up and shined up. And to get rid of all the silicone that was slapped on it. Arrgh!! Once again the process was to not necessarily get it to showroom quality. I initially cleaned the parts with an SOS scrubbing pad. Some of the more corroded pieces got and extra workout with some 320 grit emery cloth and then gave them all a final buff of 0000 steel wool and then a hand buffing with some aluminum polish.
Once the frame was cleaned up, I replaced the seals and gaskets and actuator (got seals and gaskets from vintagetrailergasket.com and vintagetrailersupply.com - crank operator from campingtreasures.com) and slapped the frame back together. It was looking nice!! And I've made sure to document my part numbers for future reference!!
With the frame back in place it was time to replace the broken pane of glass.
Doing the glass frame disassembly I found that the manufacturer used 1 1/2 inch mild steel self tapping screws on the bottom of the frame and even with some extra heat the heads just twisted off.
Luckily the way the aluminum components are made the the screws go into a channel and I was able to use my angle grinder and thin cutoff blade to carefully split the portion of the screws left in the channel and lever the pieces out. This allowed me to replace the screws easily once i got the pieces out. I will admit my son the welder suggested cutting the screws in half so credit where credit's due. It was still nerve wracking and I really took my time.
I couldn't get 3/32 glass from our local glass shop. They're all in metric equivalents so got a 2.8mm piece and crossed my fingers. It worked just fine and in no time at all I had the glass back in the frame with a fresh gasket and was ready to reinstall the glass back in the window and get it ready to go back in Lita
I haven't installed the window yet, although I have done a test fit and it looks awesome!!
I'm going to leave the window out for a bit longer as that will make it a one man job for me to re-rivet the closet. Also I still have to figure out some interior trim changes (I think I'll get rid of the aluminum trim). I think I've decided that I'll be using SS machine screws and nylock nuts to reinstall the window. Just in case I need to take it out again or maybe the next owner 30 years from now
I think the next window will take a lot less time. I've found some good processes and i know where some of the pitfalls are.
I think for this project I'd give it a 5/10 for difficulty. No real special tools needed if it comes apart okay. Just a lot of time to clean it up. Although if you do have the crappy screws twist off then that'll require extra time and energy.
On to the next window now!!