Revenge of the Glass

I was pretty tired on Saturday, so I didn’t get started on replacing the broken window on the FJ80 until after lunch. Following the instructions in the FSM, I removed the carpet support, the inner trim panel, the D-pillar garnish, and the vent trim. The vent trim was affixed with a 5mm threaded stud and a nut, and 2 plastic inserts. The inserts were pretty much stuck fast, and there is no access to their backsides, so prying from the outside was the only option. Needless to say, the plastic ears that hold the insert chips to the back of the trim snapped off. A combination of 17-year-old brittle plastic and barely-adequate structure of the ears conspired to make this trim piece a one-time-use part.

After removing all the interfering bits and pieces, I put the garbage can against the fender outside the window, and gave the glass a good oshidashi push from the inside. The glass exploded from the gasket and fell onto the garbage can. Unfortunately, it bounced off the can and slid down between the can and the fender, nicking the paint. Not like I’m really concerned about the finish of the old Cruiser anymore, but the glass left some pretty harsh looking gouges, some down to bare metal. Nothing a little touch-up paint won’t fix… Note to self – if you’re going to El Santo out the old glass, make sure the adjacent bodywork is adequately protected…

There was some kind of mastic applied at the factory in the glass run side of the rubber gasket. The remaining glass bits were stuck fast in the groove. It took a fair amount of time with the fine screwdriver on my Swisstool to dig out all the glass cubes. I set the new glass into the rubber with some gasket sealant and prepared the string to install the gasket into the unibody. Juicing up the mating surfaces with Windex, I set the bottom lip onto the body rib, and started installing the window. The rubber, although reused, was still supple. The string worked up to the point where the headliner fabric was adhered onto the body rib. The string could not slide smoothly across the fabric, so all progress stopped. I had to use the medium Swisstool screwdriver to “tire lever” the gasket lip over the remaining part of the body lip – basically the entire upper half of the window.

I reassembled the interior trim panel and the pillar garnish. A little duct tape over the vent trim holes will prevent water from entering until the replacement trim comes in from Toyota. Since the inner sheetmetal panel on the pillar is less critical structurally, it would probably be a good idea to make a couple of 15-25mm holes for the entry of forceps or a small nutdriver to push the plastic inserts for the vent trim out of their body holes from the inside. That way the trim piece can potentially be reused. The holes will be covered up by the pillar garnish. I’ll probably do this when I eventually remove the right quarter window to repair a corrosion spot.

Moderate difficulty, 1-2 hours

Parts required:
Window glass
Window gasket (optional – original one can be reused if not brittle or torn)
Vent trim (unless very special care is taken, the original one will break during removal)

Tools required:
8mm deep socket and short socket extension on ratchet
1/8″ flat screwdriver
1/4″ flat screwdriver
#2 Phillips screwdriver
(I used a Swisstool as a substitute for all the required screwdrivers)

Optional tools:
Interior trim panel tool
Drill and bits
Forceps or small (4-6mm?) nutdriver

Supplies required:
Windex or soapy water
Gasket sealant or rubber cement
String