Itinerant Air-Cooled

As a long time client of Bus Depot, I appreciate their vast stock of product lines that help us keep our vehicles running. I know that I've spend upwards of 3500.00 with them over the last several years, and have been generally pleased. We certainly don't have all that many options in this interest of ours. I just ordered, and received, a set of their sliding windows to replace the jalousies in my Westy. No instructions as far as an installation guide for this fairly expensive item, and there are a couple of apparent options for installation. What method would be easiest, and offer the least chance of breaking glass? I called their customer service, and spoke with two different people. The first guy advised to push the entire window into position, with the gasket in place. When I tried that, it looked pretty dubious, so I called back. The second guy told me that they had no one on staff who could provide any insight on the best way of installing them. "Just take it to a glass shop and let them do it." was his advice. Guess he does not know the mentality of air cooled people. When I pressed him further, he said, "Well, no one here really has any of these busses, and we have no one here that would be able to help you."
Wow! Colin, perhaps there is a place for you during the non-Itinerant season, to man a desk in that joint, and provide help, direct from a guy who has one "of these busses". That, and product evaluation of the things that they sell.

Wow! "No one here really has any of these buses?" Is that verbatim or a paraphrase? What a bummer. I would love to hear Colin on the end of that phone "help desk" line:

For side windows, I start by waxing the window opening a) to prevent rust in the future and ease water's exit strategy, but also b) because the rubber will slide into place easier that way.

Recently I've began using Gummi Pflege to lubricate the outside of the rubber where it will slide into the window aperture, and a light brushing on the window frame where the rubber will need to slide. This stuff is rubber-safe, because it's the conditioner I'll use on the rubber for the life of the seal! (I used to use various water-based "personal" lubricants from the adult shop down the street. I was never 100% sure of their compatibility with window rubber/paint though.) From here, I'll use a hundred light taps with a rubber mallet ON the seal to seat it into the frame opening as far as it will go. Now enter the car and pull the cord (you did insert a cord into the slit in the seal, yes!?) and if the window/seal is seated as much as it could be, the rubber should pull over the lip just fine. After the rubber lip comes over the pinch weld, (pull the rope at a 90* angle, and it won't scuff the paint,) take your rubber mallet again and do a few hundred more taps on the seal around the perimeter from the outside. This ensure the window is fully seated; I think the vibrations of the taps actually help the thing seat more than the light blows, but you'll see/hear a difference in hammer tone when the window is fully installed.

With that technique, the glass is never stressed, as all your applied force will act on the frame. I did my VW sliding windows last year by myself, and had a miserable time with a rope that was too small. A single-cab rear window last month also gave me a miserable time until I lathered the sill in Gummi Pflege. It almost installed itself after that!

Good luck, with the customer service and the window install!
Robbie

Thanks, Robbie! Gummi Pfledge, eh? Dang, I have all this personal lubricant around the house, and now you're sayin' that won't cut it. You have an adult store down the street? Lucky dog.
And yes, that quote was verbatim. I even asked him, "no one there owns a bus?" "Nope".
By the way, I do plan on refurbishing my jalousies, but I need to use the bus this camping season (which is now, in Miami) so I got these sliders. I'll see how I like them, if I can get them in. I'll use the cord, yes, and I saw a nifty trick using the shaft of a Bic pen, to "ride" the cord into the groove deeply.

Yeah the pen trick is nice! I also use the nozzle for RTV tubes (that just clog over anyway) to zip the cord into place.

If camping season truly is upon you, leaving the seals out in the sun for a few hours before installing makes them a tick more supple and could be the difference between a fight and an enjoyable afternoon.

I'm not saying the water-based lubes WON'T work, just that I can't be sure they're window rubber safe. Maybe they are?

I wonder if the Bus Depot call center is offsite at some call center center. Are they the VW of Brazil windows that Mid-America Motorworks sells? I wonder if they have any info on them.

Robbie

Jivermo wrote:Colin, perhaps there is a place for you during the non-Itinerant season: product evaluation of the things that Bus Depot sells.

No more suggestions for ways to induce a stroke in Colin during the off-season, please.

My son and I have spent several miserable hours trying to install these things. They really seem to be too large-especially height wise. They are the Just Kampers product, and the numbers match with what supposedly will fit my bus, but we cannot get them to go in at all. This puzzles me greatly, as I have installed window glass before, but not with a frame involved. I have the correct window for the different sides of the bus, too. I had to give it up for today-it just got too nerve wracking, and I foresaw breakage possibilities. Robbie, we did follow your procedure to the letter, too. Any other ideas floating around out there?

If you give up on the JustKamper replacements, message me as I have a few spare sliders in the garage just wasting space.

Honestly, I don't know how they go IN, but when trying to get them out - I couldn't find ANY way to remove them without cutting the damned seal. The amount of force being used was just getting crazy and I didn't want to burst the glass nor break my thumbs (from pressing in the corners.) The ease of which the Jelousy windows go in is enough to make me want to keep them forever.

My thought was to have the sliders in so that I could use the bus while refinishing the jalousies. All this makes that a rather unattractive idea. Colin, wanna come down, warm up and help me for a couple days? I promise to keep the bees away from your coffee.

Have you tried removing the seal from the frames and seeing if the frames even fit into the aperture?

I'm perplexed.
Robbie

My last order with BD was not a good experience. They sent me some parts that were meant for somebody else. Evidenced by the invoice in the box. I contacted them and told them about the problem and they said they'd take care of it. They overnighted about 1/2 of the parts that I ordered with no explanation. They didn't charge me for the parts not shipped, they just deducted them from the invoice but never said anything about it to me and at that point I wasn't up to dealing with them so I ordered the missing parts from somewhere else. As for the parts that were meant for someone else, they told me to "throw them in the trash".

airkooledchris wrote:Honestly, I don't know how they go IN, but when trying to get them out - I couldn't find ANY way to remove them without cutting the damned seal.

I can't speak for the JK sliders, but the OEVW '78-'79 sliders I scored at the junkyard and put in my Bus went in just like the rest of the windows; rubber seal around the edge and rope it in with some dishsoap. The seal on one was even new and supple enough that I was able to remove it from the wrecked donor and re-use the rubber for installation. Warm day, a couple of flatblade screwdrivers with smoothed-over edges and a bit of patience was all it took...

Jivermo wrote:My thought was to have the sliders in so that I could use the bus while refinishing the jalousies. All this makes that a rather unattractive idea. Colin, wanna come down, warm up and help me for a couple days? I promise to keep the bees away from your coffee.

Ian! If I had read this just 48 hours ago! I'da done it!
But noooooo, I am now freezing in Georgia.
Colin
(p.s. it should not be that difficult to stick in the sliders. As Robbie suggested, take the seal off and mount the frame in the aperture to have a look at the dimensions around the opening)

Bus Depot has been responsive to my various order ailments
. . . I did get my new emblem as promised since the old new one was rather badly peckled.

I also got two new rear reflector housings (that include the lamp sockets and pop into the rear sheet metal).
A sticker on the bag says, and I have to quote now that my camera is DEAD:

EMPI
bulb holder rr side mrk T2 EA
211-945-351A
INDIA

Legal only for racing vehicles which may never be used upon a highway. Not applicable or intended for street or highway use.

Well, that certainly is interesting.
Colin

Well, ladies and gents, got it figured out, no thanks to BD. A rehash: no instructions, and no help when I called them. I scoured the web, and finally found some help when I googled "install Just Kampers window". Some kind soul made mention of the fact that the large rounded rubber part of the gasket...the one that you ASSUME goes on the outside...that furschlinger gasket goes on the INSIDE of the bus. It did not help that our friends at BD sent the windows with the gaskets installed on the frame, in precisely the wrong way.


The fatter, rounded section of the gasket faces the inside. You set your cord in the groove, and someone sits in the bus and pulls the lip over the frame from inside!

The thinner, flat section of the gasket lays on the outside of the frame. Lubricate the entire frame, both the edge that the gasket seats on, and the whole window opening. Slather the heck out of it-this is key to an easier installation.


I had this Klein Hardware wire pulling lube hanging around, and I used it-worked great! Soapy water would work as well, I imagine, as long as there is plenty of it.


Seat the gasket on the frame, making certain that the flat section is aligned with the flat section of the aluminum frame. Push the entire frame with gasket mounted into the window opening, seating the bottom first. Your cord ends should be coming out of the groove at the bottom center, inside the bus. Push in and bear down-the more hands, the better. I used three people. Tap the frame only with a rubber mallet, on the outside edge of the section where the string puller is working.