Windshield molding

[Daniel McShane]

I have a new to me 30 ft. 99 Monterey Trinidad with only 19,000 miles and in showroom condition.. The coach had been sitting for several years from what I understand and I had to put a fair amount of money into it to make it, tires, Caterpillar dealer serviced engine and trans, front brakes were cooked but plenty of wear remaining, 6 batteries and lots of coach work, 1 new a/c unit, slide seal, toilet leaking and other minor irritants.

I recently returned from a trip to the Eastern Sierras and a friend was there with a brand new Forest River class "C", he looked at the inside of my coach and promptly replied that I win, my 15 year old Beaver was more impressive than his brand new motorhome.

Anyway my question is, my coach has the 3 leveler system and sometimes when I level the coach daylight can be seen at either bottom corner of the windshield, I know this isn't right, when the levelers are retracted the windshield and molding seem to return to normal but one corner of the molding appears to have slipped out of the fiberglass frame. is there replacement window molding or is the windshield glued into place???

Awesome coach!!

Any and all comments welcome!
Dan

[Adam Hicklin]

Hi Daniel.  

Congrats on the new coach.  I'm a relatively new Beaver owner also and I've dealt with this same problem a couple of times.  The front cap of Beavers seems to be very susceptible to frame twist.  My coach has a 4 point system and they work in tandem to minimize the the twist.  For instance, you can't just raise one corner at a time.  Both rear levelers move at the same time; front and back on one side move at the same time.  Even so, I've managed to separate my windshield from the cap twice, at $250 a pop to have it re-seated.  Luckly it hasn't cracked the window, which has been known to happen.   I've read horror stories here of folks pulling in to a driveway, twisting the coach and the windshield cracks.  Not sure if the 3 point system would make the tendancy better or worse.  I'm sure others will chime in with some more advice.  I just go slow, droit manually, and listen and watch.  In addition, since you saw daylight, I would probably make sure it is water tight.  I haven't been lucky enough to have it re-seat on its own..

There is a lot of wisdom in this forum.  These guys know all things Beaver.  I spend a lot of time reading and learning.  Welcome to the club

[Tom and Pam Brown]

Daniel,

Like you I bought mine and it had set for quite a while.  I had the same issue with my windshield molding.  I had to replace the drivers side glass after a rock hit and had them replace the gasket or molding around the windshield.  It seems to have stopped the issue of pop out.  

Enjoy the coach sounds like you have done a lot of the same work as I did, but for me tinkering is welcome.

[Dick Simonis]

For what's it's worth, I suffered through a period of time where the 3 point jack caused chassis twisting to the point where occasionally bay doors wouldn't open as well as some interior doors.  I spoke with RVA about the issue and they suggested that when leveling the first thing to do is dump air and always drop the front jack first even if it's just a little bit.  The logic is that by taking some of the weight off the front suspension it allows the coach chassis to lean instead of twist when the rear jacks are deployed.

When you stop and think about it, that does make some sense by giving the chassis a pivot point.

[Richard And Babs Ames]

We had a similar problem and the proper leveling our 1997 Patriot with 3 point RVA Levelers. The manual states to level side to side with the rear levelers and then use the front leveler to level end to end. We did that and in certian situations still had a bit of an issue to the point that I carried a couple of windshield picks to reseat the windshield.

The fiberglass cap windshield opening was reworked by Lazydays when we replaced the gasket along with some other repairs when we had a front tire sidewall failure a few years ago and we no longer have a creeping windshield problem using the above leveling procedure.

[Keith Moffett Co-Admin]

The answer in part is 'RV Glass Solutions'.
If the ground under the 3 point system is moderately level the system works as is per your manual.  If however the pad is slanted or twisted a bit then take the weight off the front and then follow the manual.
A certain amount of shifting is normal and shouldn't pop out the windows.

After losing the second windshield on our Patriot we contacted RV Glass Solutions and they said the problem was the install right from the factory.   The fiberglass flange that the gasket mounts to is about 3/8 in. too small and so the gasket doesn't hold without extra glue.  They sent us an installer and even walked him through the proper gluing process after he pulled both windshields and the gasket to start fresh.

That coach went through the big storm fiasco in Gillette last year without a hitch.

RV Glass is the place for full info. and they are great folks.

All the best
Keith

[Joel Buchan]

Best solution is to let the glass float. I have found that no caulking is best. If you caulk in the windshield it will suffer stress cracks. Is the cap opening to big, probably so. Easy fix, no. Just learn to live with it. These rigs do not like heavy twisting.