Cab door top weather strip seal

[Who.Me?]

Finally decided to replace a cab door top weatherstrip seal that a PO installed wrong (twisted).

Does the door top need to come off completely, or just be lifted a little to feed the seal in to the channel?

I want to minimise the risk of breaking the window glass.

If it has to come off completely; any tips to minimise accidentally breaking the glass?

And does it make any difference to the final result if it's fed in from the front or rear? Don't want this one to end up twisted like the current seal.
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Andy


Looking for info on my truck's history. Are you from Campbell California or nearby. Do you recognise it? ... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=636786

[pondoras box]

If you are referring to the rubber seal between the bottom of the window frame and the top of the door, then yes you need to completely remove the frame from the door. I can not for the life of me imagine how this seal could be installed twisted. Post up pictures.

I guess though if you want to just lift the window frame up an inch and slide the seal into place you could make slices where it goes around the parts of the frame that slides into the door but at that point you might as well just pull it the rest of the way out it’s only about another six inches or so.
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Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda)
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion
Plus a lot of other rusty junk

[Who.Me?]

[pondoras box]

OK I gotcha sorry for the misunderstanding.

I think that it would be worth it to just remove the frame completely to be able to handle it better. I have rebuilt several frames in the past and that seal isn’t too difficult to slide in place with some silicone spray. Once you take the bolts and nuts holding the frame assembly loose it gets very floppy in the door. I would be more concerned with trying to avoid loosing my grip on the entire door assembly while all the hardware is removed and the frame assembly is partially removed from the rest of the door. All the windows are still very secure in the frame even when removed from the door completely. I usually use a wooden table with a clean moving blanket secured to it. I usually use clamps to keep the blanket from sliding around to avoid pieces falling to the floor.
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Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda)
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion
Plus a lot of other rusty junk

[EverettB]

This seal

(Not my Bus)

I've replaced that seal with everything fully installed.

The seal doesn't tuck in at the ends so no need to loosen anything.

It slides right in but it's not easy to work it all the way around, even with lots of spray lube.
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[70bus]

I asked this in another post but got no reply: do you want that seal pulled tight and straight, or loose and wavy like in Everett's pic? Or in-between? I pulled it straight and then pulled it towards the outside FWIW.
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
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[EverettB]

It's straight but not stretched and doesn't have a lot of tension.

I sort of inch it in bit by bit but make sure I also push it together too while doing it. I've always done it on original frames so it doesn't slide in very easily.

It will shrink a bit so I leave the ends at each side a little long for a while before trimming them.
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[Lind]

[70bus]

Ha, so that seal is the only one I've done right. :P

[Clara]

I have installed that seal without moving the door top window frame at all.

The most work is getting the old seal out, tends to be squashed shut at the ends of the channel, so had to carefully pry it open. Used some PB blaster to help slide the seal bits out. I didn’t want to chip the old paint on the door top, so a wooden stick is better than a metal stick.

Use an old toothbrush to clean the channel when the bits are out, and use lube to slide the new seal in. I used glycerin.

I left it a bit loose/ long. meant to go back and check it later,

You might keep the glycerin handy in the bus, and give the seal a wipe with it from time to time till it stops sticking the door shut.
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[BonTonRoulet]

I like Lind's suggestion of closing the door on a plastic bag then pulling the bag out to have the seal wind up facing outwards. Only time itself will "train" a new seal to act right. My go to tool for this stuff is a RC Model Airplane hard nylon propeller. Slip in between the seal and the body and slide it up or down get the seal to fit right. Works great even on the pop out window seals.

If you can find a propeller from a Cox control line airplane engine, the old .049 engines that used a 5 or 6 inch diameter prop, those are the real swiss army knives of doing this stuff.

If you are going to replace the seal across the top of the door window frame and you decide to remove the entire frame/glass assembly from the door.....beware.....no, BEWARE......a previous owner that might have installed the metal channel below the windows without putting the small bolts, washers and nuts to hold it to the vertical posts....OR.....perhaps they have rusted out and disappeared....point being when you get it all loose and lift you don't want the sliding glass and the fixed glass to fall out either into the cab or outwards to the ground! Regardless, I'd lift it just enough to get duct tape under it and then wrapped up and around the entire window assembly to hold it all together before fully lifting it all off the top of the door.

Or consider yourself extremely lucky to manage to grab both pieces of glass in an Oh Sh*t! moment.

You'll need to thoroughly clean the channel to get a new rubber seal in it. Small picks. When you think you have it clean try again. You'll find more of the dried petrified rubber still stuck in the channels. The ends of the channels might be crimped closed so you will probably have to gently pry them back open. I use SilGlyde to lube the seal and the channel to install the seal, dont be surprised if you have to clamp a pair of vice grips to the end of the seal to pull it into place.



Good Luck!
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[Who.Me?]

Thanks all. Some useful tips there.

I had some time early this morning so I had a go with the door top on.

The old strip came out without too much of a struggle. That probably made me a little over-confident fitting the new seal though. The channel was pinched in a few places. I couldn't see the pinch points, but the seal got stuck a couple of times and I tore a little chunk off the flap trying to pull it through.

I tried opening the channel up with plastic trim tools and some wood strips, but it was tougher than the tools. I resorted to a screwdriver to bend the channel open at the pinch points which cracked and chipped paint at those spots. Kind of annoying, but it's an older respray and the paint didn't seem to very good there.

Weirdly; I found more indications that the paint may have been applied over original paint in some spots. Some bits flaked off and revealed shiny bare metal. I couldn't see a primer layer in the paint chips. Others areas left a paler blue layer below that seems firmly adhered to the metal. I think those spots might be original paint.

Once the channel was sorted and lubed with Silicone spray, the seal slid round easily and laid down perfectly at the corners and folded naturally to the outside when the door closed. God knows how the PO screwed the old one up. Maybe it was just stiffer.

The door shuts easier, so I reckon that was the problem.
_________________
Andy


Looking for info on my truck's history. Are you from Campbell California or nearby. Do you recognise it? ... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=636786