Replacing the rear window

Yesterday's hurricane caused my 95 Riv's rear window to be smashed out by a tree branch, and of course this is the car I have not registered or insured yet . All my other insured cars are fine though. I got a quote for a replacement window and its about $950! I found some yards selling it for $75 (plus whatever they want to remove it), I am just wondering how difficult this window is to replace. Anyone ever done this before?

Holy crap, $950??? That's insane. I'd call around some more.

So far that was the best price
I got a few more quotes, all around the same price, the worst being $1359! From what they companies have said this window is no long available and the few with the crazy prices could get one special order. The dealer wants $2200 for this thing!
I did find a solution though, one local guy can install a junk yard one for $125, the yards want around $100 for them. At that price I will let the pro's install it.

Man I'm scared for my car too.I'm not home now and not sure when I get there what I'm gonna find.Hopefully no damage ......but.....

moldymac wrote:

Yesterday's hurricane caused my 95 Riv's rear window to be smashed out by a tree branch, and of course this is the car I have not registered or insured yet . All my other insured cars are fine though. I got a quote for a replacement window and its about $950! I found some yards selling it for $75 (plus whatever they want to remove it), I am just wondering how difficult this window is to replace. Anyone ever done this before?

Sorry about your window.

First thing you want to do is get the dealer to sell you **the gasket** for installing the window. The gasket surrounds the window and is difficult to get off in one piece. So if you can get a new one, get it. The dealer's body shop probably knows where to get them if the parts counter does not.

Also on the one that you're getting from the junkyard try to remove and keep the gaskets especially the little triangular ones at the bottom corners I think they are unobtainium now from anywhere.

Also if you can get the gaskets that run along the base of the C pillars both sides, same problem. Wipe them down with tune up grease to keep them soft and store them for later.

Other than that the rear window mounts with the typical adhesive, the installer will have that. The probably will not readily have that gasket though, that's what you need to jump on no kidding. That gasket.

I was afraid of this... hurricane sandy messing up a Riv. Sorry about your luck, homey. Please get her back together soon!

Stupid money, for sure. I can replace the windshield on my 68 for a couple hundred, new glass. No rear glass though. Maybe it's time to see if local yard still has a Riv or 2 around. It's surprising you can get one that cheap from a yard, they generally know what a new one costs and it directly affects their prices.

1998 Riv wrote:

Stupid money, for sure. I can replace the windshield on my 68 for a couple hundred, new glass. No rear glass though. Maybe it's time to see if local yard still has a Riv or 2 around. It's surprising you can get one that cheap from a yard, they generally know what a new one costs and it directly affects their prices.

According to the woman newbie who supposedly worked for a salvage yard they are crushing Rivs left and right. From the yar's perspective, $100 for a window sold is better than $0 for a window sitting there and although there are Rivs on the road -- not that many of them need rear windows. So you have one in the yard? you take the $100.

Call a smaller, local glass shop and ask them how much to install a window if you pull one from a junkyard (explaining the exorbitant pricing issue). It's not really a DIY job unless you have some experience with it.

I found a window and am picking up this weekend (this where owning a Roadmaster wagon comes in handy ). Got it for $85 and the yard will remove it. Also found a shop that will install it for $125, or $175 on site. Probably going to have them do it onsite as I don't have this thing registered yet. Thanks for the input guys, pics are coming.

Went to the stealership today and came out with nothing. All those pieces for the rear window are obsolete with no stock available. I guess the old ones will have to be reused, or maybe the one from the yard will arrive intact.

moldymac wrote:

Went to the stealership today and came out with nothing. All those pieces for the rear window are obsolete with no stock available. I guess the old ones will have to be reused, or maybe the one from the yard will arrive intact.

Call a glass installer, like your local Safelite franchise, they are likely to have some on hand and a lot of them will sell those parts to you "cash and carry." Also the person installing yourse -- just ask them. It may be they know how to reuse yours without a fuss and we need to quit agonizing. My gess it they'll trim it off with a razor or hot knife and glue it on your replacement window with urethane... point is, if you are careful removing it your old one can likely be reused. and again ask the junkyard to get the rubber pieces for you off the junker or if you have to go out there and help them with the task (it's almost thankless).

If the "stealership" you went to did not call or check "vintage parts" on line then you might/should go to another dealership.

Albertj

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. In my experience with the molding on our back glass, you will have a very slim chance of reusing the original or junk yard molding. The glass installer has rolls of aftermarket moldings that they match as close as possible to the original. Ask him to mitre cut the bottom corners for you. Thats what we did when we reinstalled our back glass after painting it. My glass guy did a real nice job. Good luck to you.

Rear glass is usually more expensive due to the heating element and having to... you know, connect positive and ground to it.

bigdave wrote:

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. In my experience with the molding on our back glass, you will have a very slim chance of reusing the original or junk yard molding. The glass installer has rolls of aftermarket moldings that they match as close as possible to the original. Ask him to mitre cut the bottom corners for you. Thats what we did when we reinstalled our back glass after painting it. My glass guy did a real nice job. Good luck to you.

this sounds like Plan A.

Well, I decided to attempt this job myself. I picked up the glass from the yard and got to work cleaning and prepping. Luckily the yard got the glass out of the car without damaging the trim, and it came off without any problems. The hardest part of the whole job was cleaning up the remains of the old window. Cutting that urethane out with broken glass attached to it was a real pain! I ended up destroying the trim in the process so it's a good thing I got a useable one from the yard. I did buy the correct urethane and pinch weld primer and got it installed a couple days ago. The prep work was the most time consuming and took what seemed like forever. Those glass guys with their correct tools must have been laughing at me all weekend

If anyone tried this, one work of advice: make sure those tubes of urethane are VERY wam! Leave them in the sun and get them good and hot. One was about 70 degrees and flowed like crap, but did flow. The other tube was in my basement and was near impossible to get out with my caulk gun. I only hope I don't have any leaks because of this, it made it impossible to put down a good bead. The only good thing was that I picked a real nice oddly warm day to do this (65 degrees), which was very necessary to set it correctly.

So, this can be done but I think the cost of having a pro do it is well worth it, it was a lot more work than I thought it would be,