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BBInt.10
Top Member
USA
1042 Posts |
 Posted - 01/10/2003 : 9:20:43 PM
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I was hoping that someone would be able to guide me in how to replace the glass in an emergency door. This bus I'm working on has a severe rust problem, and parts of the emergency door are rusted all the way through, allowing exhaust in the bus whenever driving. So I went to the dealer and picked up a new door. Little did I realize that emergency doors come without hardware, windows, or gaskets. The guy at the dealership told me to take the hardware and the windows off of the old door and put them onto the new door. That would all be fine and good if I knew how to remove the windows from the rusted door and insert them into the new door. Do I need new gaskets for this, or can I reuse the gaskets that are currently surrounding the windows of the old door? How do I go about getting the glass loose from the old door and tight in the new door?
I'd really appreciate any help.
Thanks,
-Dave
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cowlitzcoach
Advanced Member
USA
325 Posts |
Posted - 01/11/2003 : 09:55:04 AM
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The window is surrounded by a gasket with a locking piece in the middle of it. Don't worry about ruining the locking piece--any good glass shop has it for sale by the mile and they cut it off by the foot. Find the/a break in the locking piece, lift it up and pull it out. You should then be able to get the glass out of the door. (I would suggest you keep the door on the bus while working on the glass.)
If the rust problem is severe you may not be able to get the old rubber pieces off without ruining them. If that should happen, you will need to purchase a new rubber mount. Again, a decent glass shop should have the material in stock.
Since the new door should be indentical to the old door, installing the old glass in the new door should result in a seal as good or better than new.
As for the seal around the edge of the door, the dealer or your local NAPA store should have the necessary gasket material available. If you can not find the exact replacement, you should be able to find something that will work.
You may have some difficulty in replacing the glass in the gasket. If will be particularly difficult if the rubber is cold and/or hard. Some silicone grease will help.
Good luck.
Mark O.
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thomas86_a
Top Member
USA
4413 Posts |
Posted - 01/11/2003 : 4:36:23 PM
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Off topic, but what type of bus is this? My 86 Thomas is on it's second emergency door do to rust problems. (Thomas is famous for that on the e-door.)
"I'd rather pull my kids around in a 77 passenger Radio Flyer than drive a Blue Bird." |
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BBInt.10
Top Member
USA
1042 Posts |
Posted - 01/11/2003 : 7:12:13 PM
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Cowlitzcoach, thanks for all the info. I'm sure it'll come in handy when I actually get around to doing it. I'll let you know how it turns out.
quote:
Off topic, but what type of bus is this?
It's an Amtran, your favorite 
You can't really tell too well from the picture, but around the bottom window, it is rusted all the way through in areas. Also, the bottom of the door is severely rusted... oh well; now I know what you mean about Amtran bodies not holding up too well over time, and this bus is a 1991. I know you can't read it from the picture, but I get a kick out of the sticker in the middle of the bottom window... it says "Amtran Quality School Buses, with a big 'We Care'" in the middle  . Kind of amusing in a sad kind of way.
-Dave
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thomas86_a
Top Member
USA
4413 Posts |
Posted - 01/11/2003 : 8:02:26 PM
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86-A rusted all the way through just above the bottom window on the door, so there was small air leak, that was why we replaced the door, but it certainly didn't look as bad as that poor bus. I wish the best of luck to IC-Corp, I hope they don't look like that when they are 10/11 years old, if they do they will be right back where the started with AmTrash. I will say though from the picture it looked like the paint held it's color.
It's kind of funny how that sticker held on there so long.
"I'd rather pull my kids around in a 77 passenger Radio Flyer than drive a Blue Bird." |
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Silas J.
Top Member
USA
938 Posts |
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Steven A.Rosenow
Top Member
USA
1926 Posts |
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Thomas Ford 85-16
Top Member
USA
4177 Posts |
Posted - 01/12/2003 : 06:51:12 AM
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Dave, I scanned the pages of my manuals for you that had to do with glass replacement on emergency doors. I know that there's a difference between a Ward/AmTran and a Thomas but as you said "glass is glass." Next time I see you online I can send them to you. 
Stop at: http://buses.thesummit.biz
This is an industry where people brag about their times for 60-0, not 0-60. |
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BBInt.10
Top Member
USA
1042 Posts |
Posted - 01/12/2003 : 8:15:38 PM
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quote:
What exactly is that sticker? I remember seeing one in the same spot on one of our 1989 Ward/GMCs.
I think that sticker is AmTran's attempt to convince drivers following the bus that it is built with quality despite the fact that the rust holes might be poisoning the children on board with carbon monoxide. I am too embarassed to show you the rest of the back, but I'll tell you it's not good. I was unscrewing the lense for one of the reverse lights, and applied some pressure to the screwdriver to keep it in the head of the rusted screw, and I heard some cracking... I thought I was going to push the whole light right through the rusted exterior layer! What really irks me is that I drove 2.5 hours to Troy, NY to pick up this bus which I bought off of Ebay.. it was advertised as "Has a fair amount of rust, but the body is solid". I'm sorry, but I don't consider a body with holes in it as being solid. And that isn't even the worst of what was misrepresented or "not included" in the Ebay description, but I won't get into that now. But the worst part of it all is that we bought this bus from a Christian Academy and it was a Reverend who sold it to us!!
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exCYter
Advanced Member
233 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2003 : 12:07:18 AM
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quote:
I wish the best of luck to IC-Corp, I hope they don't look like that when they are 10/11 years old, if they do they will be right back where the started with AmTrash.
I would think that since the door is now 16 gauge steel, painted in a sterile painting booth by robot precision, and has its hinges on the inside rather than exposed to the elements, that its much better suited to survive than the AmTrans of more than a decade ago.
Clearly this bus saw very few, if any, washes. We have a 98 Blue Bird TC2000 that we got off trade that is almost rusted as badly. When we got it, there was road dust four inches thick packed around the emergency door windows. It took one of our guys like 2 hours with it in the wash bay just to get all the grime off. Isn't it disgusting how some people treat their buses? We sold that particular school a CE this summer, I bet its already well on its way to being trashed.
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bbird66
Top Member
USA
881 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2003 : 10:57:24 AM
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Holy Toledo!! what state are you in? do you ever get inspected? if so how often?. Here in Wisconsin we are inspected once a year (Illinois every 6 months or before 10,000 miles) and if you have rust on any part of the body or chassis the size of a quarter its gotta get fixed!! What about that paddalock? hope you dont run with that thing locked!
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Thomas Ford 85-16
Top Member
USA
4177 Posts |
Posted - 01/15/2003 : 3:14:47 PM
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quote:
Holy Toledo!! what state are you in? do you ever get inspected? if so how often?. Here in Wisconsin we are inspected once a year (Illinois every 6 months or before 10,000 miles) and if you have rust on any part of the body or chassis the size of a quarter its gotta get fixed!! What about that paddalock? hope you dont run with that thing locked!
Don't panic! Not to worry! He uses the bus for work, not transporting students. He also bought the bus used from a private school so they would be responsible for that rust. (sorry, I have a tendency to answer questions for people  )
Stop at: http://buses.thesummit.biz
This is an industry where people brag about their times for 60-0, not 0-60. |
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bbird66
Top Member
USA
881 Posts |
Posted - 01/16/2003 : 08:54:52 AM
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Guess I should have read BBInt. reply, LOL. Whew.
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Topic |
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Replacing door glass
