It took 18 years for the right timing, money, and all else to align for a new windshield and windshield gasket in the old Dodge truck thinking that would not only give me a nice new, clean, rock-chip-free, white-smokey-edges-gone, glistening, pretty windshield, but that the leaks would be gone!

Yeah, no.

It's still leaking. Top. Bottom. Drip, drip, drip.......

Any suggestions out there???

Thanks in advance for comments, experiences, advice and tips!

Ron

Is it leaking between the metal and the rubber or between the rubber and the glass?

You can buy the Beutian (or whatever its called) rubber (not silicone) in a caulk tube, and put it around the edges. Not near as pretty as the gasket seal, but it does work.

I actually quit have glass installed on rubber gaskets because of leaks. The last 2 windshields I extended the pinch welds and had the windshield bonded in. No more leaks. Gene

yea they kinda did that new off the show room floor also.

another spot is the rear cargo light, it leaks runs down inside cab corner taking out the seatbelt anchor/cab corner.

then the drip rail rust will let water run down the a-piller to the kick panel taking out the lower panel/floor pan right over the cab mount.

I got new rubber gasket and 35 yr old glass. on the 85 & 88 both leak.

the black beutain is my next move running a bead in the gasket pinch weld groove and in the glass groove.

also if you look there is a lot of gap on the corners and across the top of gasket under drip rail. I have thought about filling that with beutian but then it might not work and just look goobbered up.

I had to weld in a sheet to weld roof skin and drip rail together then bend/trim to make new drip rail across the front. then patch the floor.

now I don't have carpet. but I do have a gallon of bed liner on the floor that holds up much better

well how about 6 gallons of bed liner inside and out of the cab. no rust anytime soon I hope.

yep I said 6 gallons inside and out on the replacement cab LOL!

the cab shell black bed liner turn out great and will all be part of a macho truck paint job

How ya do all that in a white t shirt that looks spotless?

tape off everything you don't want the bed liner on. LOL!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CRL-Windshield-and-Body-Sealant-/181457623125?hash=item2a3fb79855:g:D0oAAOSwFAZTt1qM

The proper spelling of BUTYL is BUTYL. As in "Butyl Rubber Adhesive", the black stuff you get out of a tube to seal windows in Dodges.

There is also Urethane which would be what the new cars have holding the windshield in.

R.

Good pictures of the drip rail repair! Did you ever consider going without one to keep water from puddling? I have to repair the roof on my '77 D200 and have considered doing away with the front drip edge. Either that or look for a rust free roof/cab.

They rot from the inside. There's nothing but bare steel in that area. Any coating you can get in there will help.

Epoxy paint will be good.

I agree. I sprayed 1 full gallon through the cargo light hole till I found it running down the a-pillor to bottom of kick panel both sides. all across the back side of pinch weld.

yes I did. I would maybe start with less rot across the front rail. the frame/inner/roof all have to be welded together before the drip rail can be shaved.

I sort of figured that the layers of metal would have to be welded before cutting any lip off. Another thing that got me thinking was (rain)water going up the windshield and getting forced into any cracks at the drip rail that exist or appear later as the trucks age. Could be one reason why Chrysler did away with the drip rails. I would say this.. It took them long enough.

I don't believe Chrysler did away with the drip rails until they started bonding the windshield, and did away with the rubber gasket windshield mounting. Maybe the drip rails were intended to assist the gasket sealing against the glass and the cab, by deflecting rain water away from the windshield.

What I don't get is why they went through the effort to create channels for the water to pass through the body, then dumped it all on the floor instead of outside the cabin area. Gene

I used all metal to fill all the gasket area over the welds after they where cleaned up smooth.

I know it leaks at speed along the top from wind forcing it through the gasket channel.

leaks lower corners because the lower gasket chanel fills up/puddles in the corners.

Idid all the grinding inside/out of the pich weld/patch area then filled with all metal.

one of my problems seems to be I have a nice smooth surface (like stock/painted/smooth) but the gasket is not "glued" to the metal to make it a water proof seal.

if I every take it out again I will use the tube stuff (spelling?) and fill the inner/outer gasket channels to glue gasket to glass and pinch weld.

then take the calk tube/roll the edge of gasket back and fill it good across the top under the drip/roof & filling all 4 corners up.

I will see what pics I have of ether truck with glass out.

patched/weld/filled/smoothed out.

few more

last couple

more?

If you can diagnose ( try to find the leak) then you can fix it..

Someone get inside on the floor board with a flashlight.. The second person needs to take a hose and using NO PRESSURE, start at the bottom ( the cowl area) and move UP after testing each area for 5/10 minutes..

Cowl area/each side.
Then the bottom of the WS gasket and the cowling, both sides
Then the bottom WS gasket and the glass, both sides.. Inside guy might want to move up out of the floor board area and watch each bottom corner of the WS/gasket area at this time..
Then move the water up the the top of the WS/gasket area both sides.
Then move the water up the the TOP of the gasket/metal area, both sides.

The idea here is to find the area where your leak is.. Between glass and rubber, rubber and metal, top or bottom...

If not found by now WS might not be the problem.. Look for leaks under top running lights, areas where metal is bondo or sealed together ( 72 and older chevy trucks were famous for this from the drip gutter ABOVE the WS on the roof)..

Take your time and water test each area well, starting at the BOTTOM, before moving UP..

MIght surprise you how quick your problem might show up..

Scratchn--

Thanks for the info. Now I finally figured out where the water drips in on my truck. The factory looks like it put some kind of seam sealer (not sure what type or brand) on the drip rail. Could this be scraped/sanded off and reapplied instead of welding the seam? May not be as good as a weld, but easier for us guys without some of the skills/tools that others have.

yes they use a body sealer. I wire wheeled/sand/grind it all out then did the repair/and resealed with paintable body seam sealer/primer/paint/clear

did the whole drip rail acroos the front down around door rail.

even did the thin parting line across the back of cab/roof line. looking back I wish I had welded up the cargo light hole. I going to have to use some type of sealer on my yellow truck.

when I sprayed the 85/91 cab, I did the area then installed the cargo light while wet. then kept brush filling it around the seal/cab and kinda glued it in with bed liner. no leaks on it as far as I can tell.

I will weld in a piece on the next cargo light cab I repair.

IIRC, another leaky spot is on the cowl top corner. have to remove fender to see where the metal is folded/rounded in to the cowl corner. they will crack and have a seam that can leak in that area also.