Broken window - need HELP!

[gcvt-SMB]

Broken window - need help!

A couple of weeks ago, the crackheads broke my "40" door window. Got that fixed up for about $200. Night before last, they broke the glass in my small slider window to the right of the stove. It's not the one the slides, but the stationary piece of glass.

2003 van. Indiana build. Anyone have any insight on how to replace this glass? Window manufacturer?

 

[JWA-SMB]

You'll need to determine the manufacturer or contact whoever installed that unit or perhaps the converter?

Aftermarket windows like that tend to have very short production lives which makes finding replacement parts extremely difficult or impossible. Don't mean to rain on the parade but that's been my experience.

Best of luck with this! :d5:

 

[Twoxentrix]

gcvt - subscribed to your Thread since one day I may need the same info (always good to have a list of Contacts for some of the equipment these Vans have been outfitted with). Hope someone here can provide you guidance.

 

[shenrie]

Crl is the name you hear the most for the conversion vans. Maybe thumb through their site and see if you can find something similar that could either replace or slightly upsize if needed.

CRL Van Windows

These guys sell the crl windows but have better photos of the windows instead of petroglyphs like crl has on their site.

https://www.dkhardware.com/van-windows_ZC5M0P1.html

There are a few other companies out there, but crl seems to have the most selection and best prices. Be sure to reach out to ray (1der) for pricing. He can provide the best deals I’ve found on the crl windows.

And sorry to see man. Crooks just suck

 

[deserteagle56]

A good glass shop should be able to make a replacement window pane that will match and fit. I have a neighbor with a machine shop with a fancy waterjet cutting unit and the local glass shops are always bringing him pieces of glass to custom cut. That waterjet does beautiful work!

 

[TomsBeast]

A good glass shop should be able to make a replacement window pane that will match and fit.

^^^^^This^^^^^


I've had glass cut by a couple different mom and pop glass places. Flat glass is a cakewalk, even with radiused corners.



You can save money by
1) not contracting with anyone in The City, find a place across the Bay in Oakland or south in Redwood City.

2) By removing the entire frame from the van (if its easy to remove) you drop off and pick up, having them do the replacement on the bench.

3) or making a cardboard template, have the glass shop do the work 'on the bench, in the shop', which is a lot cheaper, since they won't have the liability of your entire van at the shop.

 

[REF]

Yikes! 2nd window broken in such a short period of time, sorry to hear.
Is this sitting outside your house? Maybe get some deterrent protocols in place- Motion sensor lights, Motion sensor critter (crackhead) cam, Motion sensor alarm, Alarm signs(only good if the crackheads can read), Pitbull/German Shepherd/Doberman placed in the van at night (or borrow one).
Maybe storing the van in a secured offsite lot or at a friends for a period of time?

 

[gcvt-SMB]

Thanks all. I got all the glass vacuumed up and removed the interior trim and day/night shade. I got six of the 11 screws holding the window to come out, but the remaining 5 don't want to budge so I gotta deal with that.

I have no idea why they broke this particular window. It's no where near a door, if they were trying to get in. The only thing you could reach from here would be the water pump switch, reading light, etc.

Yikes! 2nd window broken in such a short period of time, sorry to hear.
Is this sitting outside your house? Maybe get some deterrent protocols in place- Motion sensor lights, Motion sensor critter (crackhead) cam, Motion sensor alarm, Alarm signs(only good if the crackheads can read), Pitbull/German Shepherd/Doberman placed in the van at night (or borrow one).
Maybe storing the van in a secured offsite lot or at a friends for a period of time?

Thinking about all these things. There are over 30,000 car break-ins here each year with about a 2% arrest rate.

 

[Offroading_is_Fun]

Thinking about all these things. There are over 30,000 car break-ins here each year with about a 2% arrest rate.

Last summer while I was home in Brokeland, my dad took the Quigley down to O'Reilley to buy oil and a filter (The one right across the street from Oakland Tech)... He wasn't there for more than 5 minutes and someone tried putting a screwdriver through both passenger side door locks, unsucessfully. We've also had many people (recently, last year or two) come through our neighborhoods on bicycles smashing windows for anything they think is of value in the open, and this is in the Oakland hills... it was never like this until my last year of high school and while I've been in university...

One of those things where I'd like to say a more steep punishment for these is in order... and then remember that it's California and there's not much of a punishment for anything unless you kill someone. You just have to hope there's a special corner of **** with their name on it.

Thank whoever's up there that Montana doesn't have this issue... Can't tell if it's because almost everyone has common sense and is a decent person, or that every other person is packing something between a Glock 19 and a .44 mag. Probably both.


Sucks that it's happened twice in a short period of time.. Not sure where you keep the van, but if it isn't a daily driver and you've got a friend somewhere outside of the city that you can keep it at, I might almost say that's a good idea...


The bay area... where nobody can have nice things. Sounds like a great slogan.
Just realized how awful it is for me to be 20 and already this pessimistic about society.

 

[unreng]

Maybe it's time to upgrade to shatter-resistant film? http://www.sportsmobileforum.com/forums/f9/shatterproof-window-tint-21314.html
Will be adding this to the van windows to protect our investment.

 

[carringb]

I have that same window on my trailer. I'll try to find an ID tag tonight.

 

[arctictraveller]

Greg, WTF? You have the worst luck with vans, so sorry man. Have you checked with Ray about CLR windows? Hopefully, this stupidity ends now, best of luck.

 

[gcvt-SMB]

Greg, WTF? You have the worst luck with vans, so sorry man. Have you checked with Ray about CLR windows? Hopefully, this stupidity ends now, best of luck.

You're tellin' me man! I'm gonna try to take it apart and have a pane made. Robb also sent me a link to a full window assembly on eBay for $55 ($92 w/shipping) that looks like it would work. I looked at CRL but couldn't find an 18"x15".

I was at work today with limited tools as I was trying to get all the screws out. I stopped by Robb's on the way home and we managed to get the five remaining screws out of the inner trim ring. Getting the trim ring out was another matter as the van walls were installed over the "lip" on the ring. Thanks SMB! Then we found two more screws in the window tracks.

Needless to say, the window didn't just pop out on it's own. We started in with pocket knives, razor blades, etc. Before we knew it, we were both bleeding profusely so we called it a day.

I'll try again tomorrow to see if I can get the window out. My next brilliant idea is a putty knife and propane torch. What could possibly go wrong? :n5:

 

[gcvt-SMB]

Update:

My idea to get the window out actually worked far better than I expected. I used a propane torch to heat up my 7-in-1 painters tool and it cut through the butyl tape like butter. Bonus was that it left most of the butyl on the window frame and not on the van.

Local glass shop was gonna be about $180, and take a few days, to make me a piece of tinted tempered glass. I hit up Tap Plastics and they cut me a piece of tinted acrylic for under $28.00 within 20 minutes.

While I was waiting for the acrylic to be cut, I texted 1der/Ray because I thought I remembered him saying he had some butyl tape at home or knew where to get some locally. He said he had a roll at home so 20 minutes later I was at Ray's house. THANKS RAY!! I owe ya one man.

So, I'll try to get it all back together tomorrow. I may need to ask Robb or Ray for a second set of hands. As tight as the inner trim ring fits, I suspect that the window may not sit well enough in the opening to allow me to get the trim ring on from the inside. We'll see.

 

[7oaks]

Next time you might consider using polycarbonate (lexan) for your window replacements. Acrylic sheet is not as strong and will shatter like glass. Polycarbonate will not shatter but only comes in clear or a gray tint which wouldn't match your other windows.

My friend Rick bought a sheet of polycarbonate and was told at Tap Plastics that it's bullet proof. He didn't believe them so he took it home, leaned it against a fence post and shot it with his .38 pistol. The bullet bounced back, hit him in the forehead and knocked him on his ass. All he got was a headache and a welt on his forehead but he says he now believes the stuff is bullet proof!!!

 

[gcvt-SMB]

Next time you might consider using polycarbonate (lexan) for your window replacements. Acrylic sheet is not as strong and will shatter like glass. Polycarbonate will not shatter but only comes in clear or a gray tint which wouldn't match your other windows.

My friend Rick bought a sheet of polycarbonate and was told at Tap Plastics that it's bullet proof. He didn't believe them so he took it home, leaned it against a fence post and shot it with his .38 pistol. The bullet bounced back, hit him in the forehead and knocked him on his ass. All he got was a headache and a welt on his forehead but he says he now believes the stuff is bullet proof!!!

Yep, this will likely be a temporary fix. I just didn't want to leave the van on the street without a window any longer than I had to. If I replace it with poly or glass later on, at least I won't have to take the window out again.

Funny you should mention the bullet proof thing. The local Tap had a few 1" pieces of poly that had been shot, with the rounds glued to the front - .556, 7.62 and a few others with handgun rounds. Being interested in that kind of stuff, I should have taken a picture. Not something I expected to see in SF.

 

[carringb]

FYI - that window is a Lippert Components window. They don't really have an online presence, but any RV dealer part department will have a catalog for LCI. I priced some larger windows previously, and they were fairly affordable.

 

[arctictraveller]

My friend Rick bought a sheet of polycarbonate and was told at Tap Plastics that it's bullet proof. He didn't believe them so he took it home, leaned it against a fence post and shot it with his .38 pistol. The bullet bounced back, hit him in the forehead and knocked him on his ass. All he got was a headache and a welt on his forehead but he says he now believes the stuff is bullet proof!!!

Too funny, I remember that story well.

Greg, I used that exact same method to remove a boat window that had wood trim attached with 5200, the non removable devils glue. It was pretty much the only way to get it out without destroying the trim. If you need any more Butyl, I have several extra rolls left over from when I ordered one roll from Amazon and they sent an entire case.

By the way, my neighborhood has had a rash of car prowls, 17 in the last week alone, including both my across the street neighbors cars. My car alarm went off twice a couple weeks ago, and I thought it was busted, but I also have a motion sensor with a receiver in the house which didn't go off. The motion sensor is just like the one Ray uses, and I seem to remember it saved his van once. They are cheap on Amazon, you might consider one.

 

[gcvt-SMB]

Thanks for all the help and advice everyone!

Happy to close this thread out. The window installation went pretty well. I had to trim the sides off the aluminum inner trim ring with my Dremel tool which was a huge pain in the ass. Hack saw just wouldn't work.

Butyl is brutal. First time working with it.

I'd like to send out more thanks to rallypanam (Robb) and 1der (Ray) both of whom were very helpful.

Just need to get a bit of lacquer thinner to clean up some of the old butyl. I'm 99.2% confident that it will not leak.

 

[1der]

:b5:You are most welcome, great to visit and I am glad you found a nice solution!