Replacing stationary windows

If the seal is too hard, it could result in you applying too much pressure and breaking the glass. Heating the seal will make this step much easier. If you have something plastic with a flat edge, that will work best here. You can use a flat screwdriver but avoid making contact with the glass.

From the inside, push into the seal between the glass and metal door. Apply light steady pressure and gently push out until the seal slowly starts to release. Work your way around the window. The more seal that is released, the easier it will become. Be patient getting the window started. It is best to have a helper on the outside to brace the window. If you are alone, move slowly and leave the top or bottom attached.

This way you can move to the outside and remove the last bit of the seal and catch the window. Now comes the not-so-fun part. The seal will leave some sticky black goo on the door and the windows.

If the pop-out windows you are putting in are used, they will likely have this sticky black mess as well. Products like Goo Gone are great for stubborn areas. A razor blade or paint scraper can be used to clean up the old seal.

Make sure both surfaces — the windows and doors — are clean before proceeding. I chose to use butyl tape for my seals, as I had some leftover from an RV window replacement I did. You can purchase the factory-type seals if you wish. The opening, pop-out van windows will use different bolt locations than your stationary windows.

This is no problem as the van door will have all of the holes pre-drilled for both styles of window. With the new seal applied to the window frame, you can fit the window in place and press firmly to adhere the seal. Start a couple of the nuts to hold the window in place and then tighten them slowly a few turns at a time, moving from one nut to the next until they are secured but not overtightened!

The latches are the next thing to be added. Whether your camper van came with opening windows or not, the door panels should have a molded area to attach the latches. The cutouts for the plate they screw to will be in the door but you will need to install the metal plates.

They simply slide in place from underneath and then are held in place with the attached tabs. Depending on which door you are changing the window in and what make of van you have, you may have to remove speakers to get your hand inside the door to put the bracket in place. With the brackets in place, you have the location of the screws that attach the latches to the door.

Your door panels will have the flat molded spot for the latch as mentioned above but they will not have the screw holes. I placed the door panel in place and used a sharp nail punch to mark the screw holes on the backside of the door panel. I then drilled the required sized holes in the panel. Confirm that the holes line up between the latch, door panel, and mounting bracket and you can reinstall the door panel.

The latches are held in place from the outside with screws. Before you put anything else back together, make sure the window operates as it should. If anything such as speakers was removed, reinstall them. This is a great time to clean out any rocks, screws, or debris in the bottom of the door that has been rattling around.

The last thing is the bottom door panel that can be put back in place. Pulling windows out of your van may seem like a crazy thing to do yourself but it is actually a pretty easy job. I did my rear windows one evening and the next morning replaced the side door windows to break up the job.

It can easily be done all at once for most DIYers. This article is aimed at ford econoline as obviously.. The windows are obsolete and so are the latches and everything else. So unless you find a complete ford van in a salvage yard- these are impossible to find. Hey Mike, the process for changing your windows will generally be the same.

After all — draft is for football, not your home. Look for our other post on replacing the sliding glass window seals in your RV — coming soon. The first is exposure. What kind of environment are you traveling to in your RV? Annual beach trips with the family are always fun, but the salt in the air can be damaging. Salt is aggressive for the body of the RV as well as the weatherstripping. If you are RV camping at the beach, make sure to stop and wash everything well when you leave the coast.

This will help slow down the effects of salt air damage. Second, how old is your RV? Check the weatherstripping for damage or looseness. Last, consider the quality of the weatherstripping you are using.

Going back to exposure for a moment, your RV spends a considerable time outside in the elements. Your weatherstripping needs to be the first defense against water and wind. Having a strong, high quality and UV resistant window seal is key for a long lasting life. If you want to know how well your window weatherstripping is holding up — take a look.

Do you see any dirt collecting? Where there is dirt, there is moisture! Moisture can lead to mold which not only leads to damage of the RV, but can also be detrimental to your health.

Window seals are an overlooked feature of window designs, but they are one of the most important. The first step to replacing the seals is finding out what type seal you need. Window seals sit between the glass and the metal frame. For us RVers, stationary windows give us that picturesque view we all crave.

Okay, great! Now what? How do you determine the what seal you have and how to replace it? An easy way to find what seal you need is to examine and measure the profile you already have. What do we mean by profile? The profiled of the seal is the face of the seal. Think of the profile of the seal like a cookie cutter image. The second piece of the puzzle is knowing the dimensions of your profile.

You can see the dimensions we need to look for in the images above. Finally, you will want to have an approximate footage in mind so you know how much to buy. To get the footage you need, measure around the perimeter of the window. Have a sample of your seal handy along with your dimension notes to compare to some catalogs. Click here for more info! Pricing options by the foot are available on our website.

Make sure that the manufacturer you buy from offers by the foot options so you have control of price and length. You want to make sure that your new window seals hold up to extreme weather, and provide you with ozone, UV and water resistance.

EPDM is the rubber of choice for these qualities! Press a corner into place, then another corner. Finish off by pressing everything in-between into place. Gaskets will make an audible sound when they have snapped into place. Something else to note: some installations may need you to remove the glass from the window frame. You will see an example of this in our sliding glass article. After the glass is removed, the seal installation should be the same as outlined above.