Grand Villa Windshield

Topic: Grand Villa Windshield (Read 1390 times) previous topic - next topic

Grand Villa Windshield

March 15, 2015, 01:24:06 pm

On my 91 GV the windshield has come out of the gasket on the left lower corner.The passenger side now has a small gap at the bottom of the center rubber.I was parked in grass in Daytona and had level pads under the tires and the coach pretty much level.It kind of looks like the passenger side might have shifted to the right a little letting the drivers side move.Are there any known structural issues that anyone is aware of?looks like I'll be calling glass shop tomorrow on the way home now . I'll post pics when I get home this evening . thanks

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #1 – March 15, 2015, 01:37:09 pm

Hi Stump,

I've also experienced this with my 1995 U300 Unihome. Have also seen separation between the vertical edge of the windshield and the center strut. Once the coach starts moving everything seems to go back where it's supposed to ! I think this is a not uncommon problem in the Unihomes. James Stallings, at Extreme Paint & Graphics, has experience dealing with severe problems.

Jon

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #2 – March 15, 2015, 01:48:35 pm

The main body has lots of bracing and built really well. If you ever walk on the front cap, you can feel how spongy it is. If I go out there now, I crawl out. If you take a mirror/flashlight and open the front wooden doors close to the CB speaker, you can look back and see that there is no framework or support like the rest of the coach has. This is why you have to be really careful about twisting the body pulling off the highway down onto a steep shoulder, etc. A lot of times I park on a lower parking lot down my driveway where there is a pretty good transition from the concrete to the side road. This requires a lot of twisting and I take it really slowly and still cringe at the noises the front cap makes. I have taken to making a wooden ramp so the angle change is the least possible. I have developed a gap between the outside lower corner of the driver's windshield and the body. I'm trying to figure how to get it back in place without cracking it. Some members have recommended using the area where the handholds just above the twin access doors are on the older GVs to bolt/screw that part of the nose cap to the plywood. Anyone have success here or recommendations?

Pierce

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #3 – March 15, 2015, 02:06:35 pm

Open the nose hatches and see if the plywood bulkhead at the base of the windshield is rotted. Our was, but did not look it.. till you poked a finger through the wood. Replacing that item kept our glass in place, 5k miles so far and counting...

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #4 – March 16, 2015, 09:30:29 am

I opened the nose hatches and pushed all around on the plywood it does feel spongy in a few places. It looks like the passenger side had been sealed at some time. In the bottom of the curve the seal is bulging out a little and it looks like the glass has kind of dropped down and outwards. The bottom edge has pulled away from the center divider and the drivers side looks like it has shifted letting the bottom left edge come out of the molding. I'll call FT in a while and thet guy at the body shop and try and get an idea of what i should do ,In the meantime I'll make it watertight until I can make a plan.Here are some pictures

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #5 – March 16, 2015, 09:33:38 am

Stump, Looks like you are faced with some Reconstruction work on the wood below the glass and a new seal and R and R the WS's. Temporarily you may want to go to a good Glass shop ans see if they want to try to reseat the WS's for you.
Good Luck
Gary B

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #6 – March 16, 2015, 09:51:31 am

Thanks Gary I'm going to delve into the wood later,We just got back from Bike Week Vacation and I'm going to call tghe local RV places and see who they use for windshield repairs. Then see if someone can come to my house or if I need to take it to them. I'm going to fix it for sure I like this old bus and am having fun with it. I have to go out trucking tomorrow so Im making it water tight today somehow.I called FT and left a message for service to ask if the molding is special etc. Have not gotten a call back I think I'll also call that bosy shop in Tx that does the FT and maby he can give me some idea's also.

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #7 – March 16, 2015, 09:54:13 am

Call James at Xtreme in Nacogdoches an d send him these pictures.

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #8 – March 16, 2015, 10:05:11 am

Quote from: Tim Fiedler – March 16, 2015, 09:54:13 am

Call James at Xtreme in Nacogdoches an d send him these pictures.

I just did and he said take it to FT He had done one and that did him in!lol

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #9 – March 22, 2015, 10:06:31 pm

Almost exact same situation on my 95 model. I also cringe getting in and out of my driveway. We plan on replacing the seals in the next year or two. "Geocel" along the center vertical strut and gentle persuasion at bottom driver side corner to keep glass in place for now.

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #10 – March 23, 2015, 10:19:11 am

The glass will keep moving around till that spongy plywood gets replaced...he said, ruefuly wishing he didn't have that T-shirt.
OTOH, I am pleased to report that the results of fixing that bulkhead and reseating the glass will be worth it. We ran our coach on many miles of washboard and potholes, way more rough stuff than I ever planned on. Then we drove through an absolute gulleywasher on the way home. But not only did the windshield glass stubbornly stay firmly put, but all my seal repairs kept the water from partying inside the coach with us. I love it when the fix stays in. Moby will get a full bath and detail as a reward.

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #11 – March 23, 2015, 01:54:00 pm

I spoke with Tennessee RV and Alan in the bodyshop. He has done quite a few of these windshield repairs. Waiting to set an appointment. Had close to $10,000 in unexpected repairs on my big truck the last couple months so the RV will have to wait till my coffers are restabilized! When it rains it pours it seems.

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #12 – March 23, 2015, 06:55:51 pm

Stump,
What you have is front cap separation from the two plywood horizontal members. The glue FT used was not very water resistant so this probably started with a leak. It can be fixed. I had a similar issue with my 96' U320 and fixed it myself. I replaced the rotted plywood by by cutting sections out and "sistering" the existing plywood with new marine plywood, then used 3M 5200 adhesive to make the bond between the plywood and the front cap. I drilled 4 - 1/4" holes and put 1/4" wood screws into the plywood edge to hold the front cap in place for 7 days until the 5200 cured. After the cure you can remove the screws, or do what I did, use stainless screws with a nice flush trim and leave them in place. They kinda look like they belong there!

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #13 – March 23, 2015, 09:29:15 pm

Would someone please post pictures of before and after repairing the plywood bulkhead. On my 90 GV the vertical bulkhead has a steel sheet metal skin over the front side, the rear side as seen from under the dash appears to be fine.

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #14 – March 23, 2015, 10:21:28 pm

I don't see any separation anywhere. Looking in from the 2 front flip up hatches the plywood is attached to the fiberglass front cap nothing looks like it has come apart. My defrost vent duct had cracked from age and I repaired it the other day everything in there looks good. The wood felt ok also I might have been mistaken on soft spots. But the windshield has shifted. The windshield rubber looks good also soft and pliable.I think I tweaked the thing bringing it into my yard.I didn't realize that these cannot get in a bind so to speak and I had to drop the left side off my concrete into the grass to get lined up with my gate into the back yard.There was a lot if creaking going on.

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #15 – March 23, 2015, 10:45:20 pm

This is alarming!!

Do I understand correctly that this can happen with a "bus" (flat front) FT as well as the sloped nose?

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #16 – March 23, 2015, 11:16:19 pm

Someone in my travels told me about how the Factory's fix for the shifting problem is to install oversized rubber gasket one that is wider. Is this a fact?

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #17 – March 24, 2015, 09:30:00 am

Yes, it can and does happen with the flat front coaches. As I said before, my U320 had this issue and was easily fixed. You can tell by pushing in on the front cap just below the windshield center--- if it moves, it's delaminated. Usually caused by leaks from the clearance lights above the windshield.

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #18 – March 24, 2015, 12:44:07 pm

For what little it may be worth, here's my writeup with a couple pix.

looking for advice from the experts

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #19 – March 24, 2015, 03:10:50 pm

Jay, thanks for posting the link. From the earlier topic header wording, one would never have known it pertained to the same problem. When we start new threads, we are inclined to put down what is on our minds, rather than a heading that would be be a more accurate title for the subject in question.

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #20 – March 24, 2015, 06:07:35 pm

Yeah, I'll try and remember that for future threads...

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #21 – March 24, 2015, 07:02:34 pm

Twobus I see what happened on yours and I will investigate mine farther when I get back in next weekend. I have not seen any damage like what you had.Mine is all covered in vinyl and ill really look hard again . isn't the windshields supported by the fiberglass under the rubber strip it dosnt look like the wood does any support of the glass.Am i missing something or looking at it wrong?

Re: Grand Villa Windshield

Reply #22 – March 24, 2015, 07:47:30 pm

Stump,
I had a similar problem to yours on my '92 U300 except my windshield separated from the body in the upper corner on the driver's side. At times, it would get so bad I could put a couple of fingers through the space. I brought it to a few windshield places to get a temporary fix but none of them would touch it. I finally made it to FOT last month for repair. It cost about $3,000 and that was using my same windshields. It took about 2 1/2 days to repair.
They added some handles to the outside face screwed into the plywood to keep it in place in the future.
The areas that were separated and leaking before, no longer leaked after the repair. However, there were two things I was a bit disappointed with after the job was done.
First - After replacing the side windows and windshields, the two side windows began to seep water during rain. The shop tried twice to fix this and continued to work on the side windows themselves to correct the problem. However, to my eye the problem was at the point where the side window and windshields come together. I mentioned this multiple times but was told that could not be the location of the problem. Long story short, it continued to seep from the same spot on each side window. To make matters worse, they charged me for these "repairs" that didn't fix the problem even though there was no leakage before they removed the windows.
Second - When driving home at highway speed, there are new whistling sounds from multiple areas in the windshield. This was never there before. I did not have time to go back to FOT at that point because I had already stayed longer than planned.
Overall I am definitely better off than before because the "seepage" is much less than the leaking that I had before. I hope to figure out a solution to this new issue this summer when I can spend more time working on it.
Kearn

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