How do I change Rear Cab Window 90 F150

"I'm hoping I dont have to remove, and/or replace the entire window (all 4 pieces of glass). "

That's what you have to do. You pull out the entire assembly, then disassemble it. Good luck finding a used one. Good sliders disappear quick in the junkyards. Sliding rear windows are a lot like upfit parts on conversion vans, motor homes, etc. Finding parts is often a futile effort. You might want to look into a complete window asy. from your local accessory shop.

They aren't meant to come out easily, or it would make breaking into the truck childs play. There's usually a non-obvious way to take apart the tracks and move the slot open. (I sure wouldn't put it up in a public forum to instruct the crooks...)

It's theoretically possible to fix it on the truck IF you have fourteen hands and can work in 3D from both sides... It'll be a WHOLE lot simpler to dismount the window and have it flat on the bench with a nice chunk of carpet as padding, and you can apply force as needed without breaking something else.

The key to the solution is the thin rubber wedge strips and the trim garnish strips on the glass surrounds, you remove them to get some slack in the main rubber gasket. Then the main gasket can be folded /just/ enough to get the glass in and out of the frame, one side at a time.

And there are many tricks to getting it to pop in, like polyethylene plastic wedges and strips that won't chip the glass, wedging a piece of rope into the glass channel and pull the rope to use as a zipper, etc. And various magic lubricants. I don't claim to know them all, but people who run auto glass shops sure do - they can have them in and out in 10 minutes.

They may be able to order a new piece of glass, there are companies overseas still making replacement window glass for vintage and antique cars. They can also order the piece custom-cut and tempered from a local glass foundry, but the minimum charge can be $75 - 100. If you can track down other people that need that particular glass, you can run several at once to meet the minimum order and cut the price.

A complete new aftermarket slider might be less expensive than fixing the old one. Investigate all options before deciding.

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Thanks for the advice. Lets say I want to remove the whole slider window. How do I do it? I'm assuming there are some sort of clips on the inside, is that correct? Then I imagine the window comes off on the outside.

I suppose I'll have to remove it and then fix it. I am also considering seeing if I can cut some plexiglass to fit in there. It looks to be a possibility. I made a temporary patch out of 1/8" masonite wood. After cutting the shape, it fit in there pretty well, although I didn't waste a lot of time on it, and the piece of masonite was a half inch too narrow to begin. Duct tape solved that for the moment, I just want to keep out rain (and my farm cats) for now.

This is a farm truck, so I dont want to spend a lot of money on it, but I do need to get some kind of window in there. Maybe plexiglass would be a better solution anyhow, since it seems more durable???? Some silicone caulk around the edges does wonders too.

Dan

Haven't taken one out, but IIRC they are the same design - there's a wedge strip in a slot of the main surround gasket, just like the little rubber strip that holds the window screen in the screen frame. When you pop out the strip, the gasket will flex enough to pop out of the hole in the car body.

Sometimes the chrome garnish trim around the window is shoved into the slot along with the wedge strip, so you take it off first.

Whenever working with glass, be somewhat gentle with it. It will take some serious bending or compressive stress to break it, but you do NOT want to chip the edges, especially on tempered. The chip can start a crack on plain or laminated glass.

And tempered glass doesn't just crack or scratch (like with a glass cutter) it shatters. Funny stuff, the center core is under pressure and the outer surfaces under tension, part of the cooling process. The stresses relieve themselves by shattering into crumbs.

They make special tools for glass installers, a lot of plastic coatings and HDPE wedges and hooks, etc. Everything metal is padded, and sharp points are shrouded. You don't want an "Oops Moment" on a $500 windshield you have to replace if broken. If you use regular tools, tape everything.

Farm truck? Well, why didn't you say so!! That makes it easier.

Go get a chunk of Lexan® (polycarbonate sheet) the right size, cut to exact size with a saber saw, and make a replacement window for the slider out of that - it'll work just fine and be just as safe.

You just have to be more careful when cleaning the windows to NEVER WIPE IT WHEN DRY or it'll scratch all to heck. Plexiglas® (acrylic sheet) is cheaper and will work, but it's much easier to scratch.

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I can't tell you how to remove the factory slider window but, if you can get it out, it is likely that a local auto glass shop can cut a replacement for it. Most of them keep common templates so they can cut instead of stocking hundreds of different panes. If you get the whole window out, you can use the good side as a template IIRC on that one. If one side is already out, you have little to lose if you do further damage it. Either way, it has to come out.

Now, about removing the whole window, every time I have seen them removed from an F150 of that vintage, the window is simply pushed out from the inside of the cab - no locking strip. To replace it, put the gasket on the window assembly, use a piece of plastic clothsline cord wrapped around the inside groove of the gasket. Lube it up good with a spray silicone lubricant and place one end in the cab opening. Have the ends of the clothesline on the end that you initially insert. You need someone on the outside to keep even pressure on it while the person inside pulls the ends of the cord forward. This pulls the inside flap of the gasket through the opening and brings the window with it. If you have it lubed well, it will position itself. Just be sure to pull both ends of the cord across evenly and keep even pressure on the outside. If you live near a truck accessories store or don't mind mail order, you can get a full frame slider which I like better than the OEM and installs easier for less than factory parts. Sometimes, you can get a complete full frame slider cheaper than you can get a pane for the factory window. All that said, even a pro who does it every day will occasionally have a bit of bad luck with glass.

I am sure there is another way to skin this cat but, I've not seen it. I would hit the local auto glass dealer before anything else. Any way you go is going to cost money - it's just a matter of how muck.

Good luck

Lugnut

That will work and be less money - but only windows made from flat glass, and you can only get that in Laminated, not Tempered. To you it doesn't matter, unless someone tries shoving a body part through the window instead of a 2X4...

Plain glass makes sharp shards when it breaks, and you'll spend hours in the ER with a Doctor or RN finding and picking them out. Tempered glass makes far safer crumbs with few sharp edges, it just gets out of the way. It's worth the extra money, if only on the off chance the one that gets hurt is you.

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You are correct. That is why I suggest an auto glass shop. They stock the proper glass for side and rear windows. Many of them specialize in restoration glass for older vehicles. Tempered glass is also used in many business and residential applications.

Lugnut

Right - but you keep saying "they can cut" and "they stock the proper glass" like they can just zip one out of a sheet and be done - and they simply can't, not if you need tempered glass.

The only stuff that a glass shop can cut themselves locally is going to be plain float glass. Or laminated float glass (for old motorhome and bus windshields) if they have a sheet. Float glass DOES NOT meet the current Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, hasn't since roughly 1965 - 1970.

If you need a piece of tempered for a side or rear window the local glass shop either has popular ones in stock or will order it in from a windshield producer like PPG or Glazurrit. For old cars, AGP - Argentine Glass Products. (They still ship lots of 1940's and 50's vintage American Car windshields and side glass to Cuba and the Third World where old cars are still in daily use...)

Tempered glass has to be cut to exact size, bent if necessary (in a big kiln into a metal mold or specially formed depression in a base of sand), then tempered.

And for a windshield they take the two sheets and laminate them together with a special plastic layer in the middle.

Once it's tempered, you are not going to cut it again, EVER. I know of a fool who kept buying up old TV cabinets and coffee table tops for the glass, trying every method he could think of to cut them down to the size he wanted - wet diamond tile saws, scribes, hot wire... And every attempt ended in the totally predictable shatter 'disaster'.

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