For anyone who has thought about replacing their windshields themselves but were hesitating, I would encourage you to do it and save some  money over having a professional do it. I did mine tonight and I sure am glad that I didn't spend $110 to have my used one put in or $200 to have a new one done. I had one 14-year old helper working on the outside while I pulled the string on the inside.
 
I found two web sites that detailed the procedure, got my windshield (thanks to listmember Doug Ford) and had a go at it. I couldn't believe how easy it was. The only thing that made it less than perfect was that my string came out of the channel a bit so it was not overlapping, so I had to fiddle with the last three inches of seal. 
 
My old windshield came out fine- it cracked once but that didn't matter. The old seal was good, so it was more important to re-use that and not worry about the old windshield. I know some of you will ask if I took the time to take care of any rust in the sill- sadly, no, I cleaned it a bit and put some silicone over it, but down the road I may do this. In that case I'll cut out the old seal so I can remove the windshield without cracking it, do the rust and use a new seal. 
 
So now maybe I'm ready to embark on a Vanagon mobile windshield replacement/Vanagon repair service trek. I've always wanted to have a job where I could travel the country. Sure, there's only a handful of repairs I feel comfortable charging for. Sure, it may be 300 miles between customers. what the heck. Would anyone like to team up with me? 
 
Ed Duntz in CT
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