So my windshield frame was rusted out all along the bottom. I knew it was pretty rusty but didn’t know the full extent until I folded it down and started chipping away at it with a screwdriver to probe for good metal. It was to the point of little support for the glass and would likely have collapsed in a rollover accident. I thought about taking the glass out, grinding away the paint and welding in some new metal. Too much work for a hack job. So I ordered a new frame from 4x4.com and some rattle cans of paint from automotivetouchup.com, 2 basecoat and 2 clearcoat. Also ordered new inner and outer rubber from Quadratec, and picked up some urethane and urethane primer locally.
The “primer” or whatever the frame came with (a semi-gloss black they called primer) was incompatible with my green paint so I painted over it with a couple coats of red filler-primer, a wet sanding, and then regular gray primer to smooth it out a bit. Then the metallic green and the clearcoat went on.
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Took the old windshield assembly in the house and put the cab cover on it.
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The old frame:
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I used one of those cheap, breakaway utility knives to work away at cutting the old urethane adhesive-sealant because my regular Stanley knife wouldn’t reach deep enough with the blade fully extended.
It took several passes and some sweat. Tough stuff.
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A single edged razor blade to cut it off the glass.
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Using some pieces of duct tape to hold the new seal on the glass helped while it got worked around it, otherwise it popped off the sections I had already done. New urethane (I used 3M Windo Weld and its recommended primer) adhesive-sealant to set the glass and let it cure for a couple of days and nights. I also put some clear silicone sealant on the pinch weld lips to help keep moisture out, and blew 3M Rustfighter 1 inside the frame with compressed air where I couldn’t get paint very well.
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Some of the old flat-head torx screws needed to be drilled out to remove the frame from the vehicle, so I replaced them with stainless steel allen-head screws.
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Finally done!
unk:
![Image]()
The “primer” or whatever the frame came with (a semi-gloss black they called primer) was incompatible with my green paint so I painted over it with a couple coats of red filler-primer, a wet sanding, and then regular gray primer to smooth it out a bit. Then the metallic green and the clearcoat went on.
Took the old windshield assembly in the house and put the cab cover on it.
The old frame:
I used one of those cheap, breakaway utility knives to work away at cutting the old urethane adhesive-sealant because my regular Stanley knife wouldn’t reach deep enough with the blade fully extended.
It took several passes and some sweat. Tough stuff.
A single edged razor blade to cut it off the glass.
Using some pieces of duct tape to hold the new seal on the glass helped while it got worked around it, otherwise it popped off the sections I had already done. New urethane (I used 3M Windo Weld and its recommended primer) adhesive-sealant to set the glass and let it cure for a couple of days and nights. I also put some clear silicone sealant on the pinch weld lips to help keep moisture out, and blew 3M Rustfighter 1 inside the frame with compressed air where I couldn’t get paint very well.
Some of the old flat-head torx screws needed to be drilled out to remove the frame from the vehicle, so I replaced them with stainless steel allen-head screws.
Finally done!
unk:
