Windshield Spline Replacement

[eze2bme]

I want to replace the rubber/vinyl windshiled splines on my 1979 43DC as the old ones are brittle and cracked. I have ordered the replacement spline material from Sam's Marine and have removed one section of the old material. My question is: what is the best way to install the replacement? Is there a "tool" to make replacement easier? I cleaned out the old material from the "groove" in the aluminum frame and couldn't get the spline in "dry" so tried using Windex as a lubricant, but still little success. Any thoughts? Thanks!!

 

[Nonchalant1]

I'd call Steve McPhereson at Sam's Marine (NC location). Does your frame look like the "tips & tricks" frame shown in Sam's website?

Doug

 

[eze2bme]

Yes it does look the same ... I printed out those instructions but it says nothing about how to reinstall the splines. I'll call Steve tomorrow.

 

[Nonchalant1]

For antique car applications, we use liquid dish soap, like Polmolive, mixed about 1 part soap to 10 parts water. Really slippery and washes off easily later. Get a large, really blunt, flat blade screwdriver or make an oak or hickory wood wedge thin enough and blunt enough to push it in. If you've got the splines off, check the sealer under there to make sure it's still OK. Replacing the sealer is a big job though.

Doug

 

[Nonchalant1]

I resealed and resplined one windshield window today. The splines are very soft and easy to push in. You just push gently with your thumb and in it goes. Maybe you don't have the same exact extruded aluminum frame shown on Sam's website? If you do, look again at which channel the spline goes in and how it fits. It should just push right in.

The big hassle was digging out all the old sealing and cleaning the sealing channel and glass. If yours don't leak, you don't need to do that.

Doug

 

[eze2bme]

I did finally get my splines replaced. Problem was that someone in the past had allowed calking to get into the spline tracks ... those tracks have to be completely clean for the splines to slide in. I found a little plastic tool at the boat store called a "Caulk-Away" made by Star Brite ($6.99 @ West Marine) that made the job of removing the old caulk a breeze!

 

[administrator]

Thanks for the tip. I'll put the information on the caulk removal tool in our "tips and tricks" section of the Sam's web site.

We're also stocking the tool now. http://www.samsmarine.com/PartSearch/LinkPart.cfm?ItemNmbr=XM00035