Defender windscreen glass question

[Bowie69]

I'm sure that would be fine, been done before.

[Eightpot]

Fitting a screen is quite easy on a Defender, for your first one it is easier with an assistant. 

The Britpart screen seals are actually very good, helps if you can get the seal warm if not doing it on a warm day

cut the old one out with a stanley knife so you can push the screen out from the inside. 

Lay the new screen down on a suitable table, run some vaseline round the edge and work the seal onto the glass so it's all held on. This bit can take a while! 

Put paracord around the outside of the seal working it in with a blunt dinner/butter knife or similar (these are a good tool for later), so the cord is tucked right into the seal, pull it taught crossing the ends over at the bottom of the screen then vaseline the screen frame and outside of seal. 

place screen & seal onto bottom of screen frame with string ends inside cab, work screen seal down onto frame lip.  Gently work back & forth with the blunt dinner knife along the seal sliding it along so the glass drops stays tucked down in the seal and the seal is tucked down onto the frame, then start to ease the screen over to one side only and begin working the side of the seal onto the frame with the knife just a little  and keep running along the glass with your knife to keep it tucked in the seal. 

Now with only slight pressure, press screen to seal and pull screen down onto lower frame lip as you begin to draw the cord back slowly towards the frame edge you are working on, pulling directly backwards so the seal flips back over the lip.  Only do a little at a time and keep going back to the edge to ease the glass across and work your knife along the seal to help it move.  Spray on soapy water if it's not moving easy 

Once the bottom and one edge is in, work from the bottom again towards the other side, constantly running the blunt knife along the seal to help glass and seal move where it needs to on the frame . Keep gentle pressure pushing screen inwards and down. 

Finish with the top run, it will get tighter especially the corners but keep gently working with the seal and spray soapy water to lubricate. When the seal is on, a few gentle slaps on the glass with a flat hand helps the seal fully bed in. 

Never try to lever the glass in any way, put too much pressure on or use force as the screens are fragile until sat square in the seal.   Plenty of lube and patience are the key.  

Hope that helps a bit

[mad_pete]

Reproduction and distribution of copyrighted material without the consent of the copyright owner ? Does sound toootally  fine. :-). If you are interested I can post the pages to you.

[nickwilliams]

I would not use Vaseline - better to use something which does not remain slippery after the screen is fitted, and Vaseline will be a PITA to clean off the glass. 

Crossing the ends of the paracord at the bottom of the screen is right, but I left a loop of para cord sticking out of each side and worked the sides in first, a bit at a time on each side. If you try to get the seal in place on one edge but not on the opposite edge at the same time it's much more difficult to get it seated properly.

It took me a couple of hours each time. The last replacement was done by an Autoglass fitter and paid for by my insurer. It took him about 15 minutes!

[Eightpot]

Guess I should have mentioned to wipe the vaseline off after to stop it being slippy 😉

[ballcock]

Having made two attempts at fitting mine with the seal wrongly fitted to the screen, I checked the old rubber for correct orientation then with the cord in and liquid soap, a soft clamp either end just to stop it pushing the end out, pulling the cord gently it slipped in with no problem a few slaps as said to settle it and job done. 

Edited March 3, 2018 by ballcock

[Peaklander]

On 02/03/2018 at 1:17 PM, Eightpot said:

.....

Hope that helps a bit

 

21 hours ago, nickwilliams said:

I would not use Vaseline - better to use something which does not remain slippery after the screen is fitted, and Vaseline will be a PITA to clean off the glass. 

Crossing the ends of the paracord at the bottom of the screen is right, but I left a loop of para cord sticking out of each side and worked the sides in first, a bit at a time on each side. If you try to get the seal in place on one edge but not on the opposite edge at the same time it's much more difficult to get it seated properly.

It took me a couple of hours each time. The last replacement was done by an Autoglass fitter and paid for by my insurer. It took him about 15 minutes!

 

16 hours ago, ballcock said:

Having made two attempts at fitting mine with the seal wrongly fitted to the screen, I checked the old rubber for correct orientation then with the cord in and liquid soap, a soft clamp either end just to stop it pushing the end out, pulling the cord gently it slipped in with no problem a few slaps as said to settle it and job done. 

Well I couldn't wish for more detail. Thanks very much guys (and everyone else in the thread), that's given me a lot more confidence.

[Jimsky Korsokov]

Hi - I did this to mine after lots of research. The Diamondback controller is excellent - no chance of leaving these on as they mod the switch so that you can programme in a number of minutes for it to come on.

http://www.paddockspares.com/diamondback-smart-heated-windscreen-wiring-kit.html

I got a great local chap to install - normally I'd do it myself but I was afraid for my new windscreen with the elements in. I'm glad I did. He used the paracord method and was meticulous (Evesham Windscreens I think). I changed the rear screen at the same time and he did both for £70 - very reasonable.

The WARNING is be careful what window seal you buy. He did not rate the BritPart one (actually he refused to come if I had one of those) - claimed they were really inflexible and difficult to install. Mine was not genuine and did cause a bit of grief but the overall result is excellent. Well worth doing.

 

[=jon=]

On 05/03/2018 at 2:24 PM, Jimsky Korsokov said:

The WARNING is be careful what window seal you buy. He did not rate the BritPart one (actually he refused to come if I had one of those) - claimed they were really inflexible and difficult to install. Mine was not genuine and did cause a bit of grief but the overall result is excellent. Well worth doing.

 

On my old 90 we had to take the screen out - using a britpart seal it wouldn't go back in, my Dad tried and tried and eventually gave up after cracking the screen. He got the local windscreen fitter out who took one look at the seal and refused to use it, it's a few years back and I seem to remember he said it was slightly too slack to fit well. 

As with anything that comes in a blue box, it *might* be OK, but there's a high chance it's not (and is probably different to the same part number in a different blue box elsewhere in the shop!)

[Eightpot]

I've done probably 20 defender screens with a britpart seal after having problems with allmakes seals, and found them to work well.  The screen can only crack if it's forced - plenty of lube round the frame,  seal and glass and slow methodical working of the seal and they pop in nicely.  The seal does feel slack when first fitted round the glass but soon dissappears when it goes in the frame - lots of lube is the key or its too difficult to slide the components together. 

[gonewestnz]

Just done this, changed the standard windscreen for heated. I sourced the glass through VGS and bought a wiring harness from Dan Padmore. 

With two people it was relatively easy to remove the screen with out breaking it. We installed the wiring while the screen was out as this made access to the Puma dash fixings easier.

we used a length of paracord to reinstall the screen with plenty of washing up liquid on the original windscreen rubber that was in good condition. We managed to keep both pieces  of glass in good useable condition.