A small rubber mallet will help coax the hinge back into its mating piece. Coax it into place by gently lowering the window, if ANY binding is felt, STOP and tap the hinge pieces again, binding indicated that the hinge has not seated properly. Inland RV is a trusted source for Airstream parts and a dedicated project researcher for the Airstream community. Established in , Inland RV is dedicated to helping our clients maintain their Airstream trailers with ease and efficiency.
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This should open the split further and allow you to place another door stop. Continue moving the doorstops around the glass until the two panes are separated. If the seals are not dry, weak, or split, then I found it was best to stab through the butyl seal with my plastic pry bar and begin the same separation procedure from there.
It can also help to score the butyl with a utility knife. Once the panes are separated, remove the rest of the butyl using your handy razor blades. Goof Off can help remove an remaining reside. Your primary tool for this step will, again, be your razor blades. I recommend having several new blades on hand. The tint, while likely bubbly and brittle in some places, will also be stubborn in others. Steam can loosen those stubborn spots. I used an iron with a steam setting and a wet cloth, although a steam machine for removing wallpaper would also work.
To deal with the excessive dirt trapped in the frames, I chose to give them a literal bath. Then I finished removing the glue and rubber residue with a razor and Goof Off. The glass will polish with a light abrasive like toothpaste, while the frames will need to be cleaned with a tougher abrasive like steel wool. For extra shine, use aluminum polish on a microfiber cloth as well.
When tinting your windows again, there are several considerations to make. After going through this process, I decided I never wanted to disassemble these windows again, so between the panes was out of the question. Then I learned that professionals recommend installing tint on the interior pane to extend its life, so we went with that option.
Second, select a tint which is rated for dual pane windows. There were issues in the past with tint making the dead space between the panes too hot and exploding the seals. This is not an issue with most modern tint, but I discovered that tint manufactured for cars is not rated for dual pane windows. Therefore, I chose a residential tinting company. The residential company also had the opaque tint we wanted for the bathroom window.
On that note, some renovators choose to tint the windows themselves; however, we went to a professional. In addition, we chose the best and most expensive tint on the market ceramic tint. So, it was the largest expense of the project. You can press it to either pane, but I preferred to start with the slightly larger exterior pane.
Then, add a pinch of desiccant inside your butyl ring. This will help absorb any residual moisture between the panes. Place the second pane on top and press the two together. When placing the second pane, it is nice to have a partner to situate one edge of the pane while you focus on the other. Also, wearing latex or rubber gloves will prevent you from getting fingerprints on the inside of the glass. To complete your window sandwich, wrap the aluminum foil tape around the glass edges.
It will keep the sandwich together as well as prevent the butyl from collecting dirt. Cut a strip of glazing to wrap around the edge of the glass sandwich. I used the 3M weatherstrip adhesive to glue the glazing to the window sandwich. It just helped the glazing stay in place during installation.
I then used a soldering gun to melt the rubber together at the seam. In theory, you should be able to reverse engineer the process of removing the glass from the frame, but, in practice, the new seal may make it tighter and more difficult. Silicone lubricant can help. Additionally, the seal may be stretched and pushed out of place by reinsertion. Spencer and I used our fingertips to push the rubber flush with the frame. We had so much trouble with this step. So much. We found it nearly impossible to close the frame completely.
First, we tried squeezing a frame together with a come-along strap, but only bent the edge of the frame. Finally, we opted to rivet one half of the hinge back on. Then I levered against the other half of the holes with a series of Allen wrenches in increasing size while Spencer applied downward force, leading to this amusing scene:. Once you close the frame, you want to secure it using buck rivets. There are three kinds of rivets used in Airstreams: pop rivets, olympic rivets, and buck rivets.
Olympic rivets, while stronger and more waterproof, unfortunately splay out in the back so much they would prevent the windows from closing.
Therefore, you have to use buck or solid rivets, which are what Airstream uses on the exterior of the trailer. Unfortunately, buck rivets require more expensive equipment than the other two types. To get around this problem, we borrowed the necessary equipment from my Aunt, who flies a small plane. Therefore, she has several friends who own the equipment because they build their own planes. I highly recommend borrowing a buck riveter if possible from a nearby Airstream or plane enthusiast to save money.
Because there was so much force required to hold our frame together, we riveted the windows closed while someone sat on them. Use Parbond to seal the frame seams and the backs of each rivet. Then attach the D-shape weatherstripping. Even though mine had a peel-and-stick back, I used the 3M adhesive as well. I thought we were finally done with the windows, but, when I tried to reinsert one, everything went horribly wrong. So, when I tried to hinge the window down into position, the rivets pulled out and the hinge contorted.
Needless to say, I cried…a lot…and I could barely look at the windows after that. And no photos of said incident exist.
Unfortunately, when my mother and I tried to insert a second window, we confirmed without contorting the hinge that this was going to be a problem with all of them. So, I figured we needed to replace the buck rivets holding the hinge on with longer ones. We hoped longer rivets would create a larger bulge, which would secure the hinge better. Luckily, Spencer found a solution.
He doubled up the rivets, drilling new holes to better secure the hinge. In addition, he and my mother discovered the problem that damaged the hinge originally. Whether by our work or the original design, the frames had a slight curve, meaning the sides of the hinge fit securely, but the center did not.
This created a twisting force on the hinge, which is what pulled the rivets out when I tried to reinsert it. Tilt the window at a degree angle again and push it up into the hinge. A few taps with a rubber mallet on the center and a second pair of hands may be necessary. Then reattach the arms and pop in new rivets on either side of the hinge.
Tutorials for the stacked and vista view windows coming whenever I muster up the energy to work on or even think about windows again.
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