First Gen Windshield Weatherstrip Rubber Gasket - options

Steelerubber has this gasket on their site and on ebay, specifically mentioning it'll fit the first gen vans - sku 70-1702-50 for $67 (free shipping).

Classicparts has a "truck" gasket on their site, with some guys here saying it'll fit the first gen vans - sku 01-015 for $30 (plus shipping).

That's a big price difference. Has anyone had any troubles with either part number? Anyone have any praise for either?

I ordered a couple from my source and they were to be direct shipped from their supplier. They are temporarily out of stock and on a 2 week wait. You guys are going to have to quit ordering them for a while until I get mine !! 30$ is a very good deal if it is right. I believe I'm paying 35$ plus shipping. Total for 1 was about 48$ with shipping.

Thanks Donivan65, I missed seeing that one in the historical threads.

Digz, do you have WBL 653 on order or is it one of the other versions?

It's Arrowhead Truck Parts own part number but it is for the 66 Chevy truck, same as I ordered before. The place I ordered from is in Arizona. Be sure what it is and source when it gets here I would think.

What kind of adhesives should be used?

What kind or brand of sealer do you recommend for that final step?

Great, thanks for the info!

Hey Digz,
Have you received your gasket yet?

Yes, it got here yesterday!  I should get a dry fit on it today but will have to wait until Gregg gets here this weekend to put it in. It is a Precision WBL 653.

The gasket fit well and it didn't take to long to put the windshield in. Gregg knew what he was doing, I just was the helping hand. The small rope and some silicone spray worked okay. This was just to fill the hole for traveling so final sealing wasn't a concern.

Joe was it lose on widshield before you put it in,And did Greg have to pull ithe gasket around to get it to fitl in??

I wouldn't say it was "loose" on the windshield. I used silicone spray to help get it on the glass and for a second it acted like I had a smidge extra in length until it set in place. This was a stock/original piece of glass so it was pretty thick. Yes Gregg had to tool it some on the inside to finish the set. The bottom and part way up the sides went relatively easy ( to me anyway) and getting it from there required more effort. Getting it open enough to go over some of the multi-layered sheet metal in the corners I think was some of the culprit for difficulty. Tools we used: clothes line rope, bondo spreaders, 1/2 of a L shaped snap ring plier and a standard pair of pliers.

It really wasn't much of a struggle. Worst part was, I had stopped at Harbor Freight that morning and had briefly considered buying their windshield tool kit- but didn't. I would recommend having the proper tools to prevent puncturing the gasket. It can be done (obviously) with pliers, but you have to be very careful.

One note: when the glass is in place, it will not look fully seated. Don't try to force it, just be patient and apply steady pressure around the edges, then give it a few minutes to relax.

The glass on the 65 wasn't totally seated when I left, but after 3 hours of towing, it settled in place on it's own.

Definitely a 2 man job, but all one person has to do is just hold the glass to keep it from popping back out.

BTW, I'm not a pro glass installer, I've just swapped a few old style windshields over the years. When Mac was doing a glass swap at the nats in Elkhorn, I watched to see if a pro did anything radically different from what I was doing. Other than having the nads to smack glass with a rubber mallet, he installed the glass pretty much the way I had been, so that made me feel a little better.

I bought Precision's WBL 653 and it is so large that I cannot get it to stay on the glass. I pulled it off and put it in the frame and it's just as poor fitting there too. I was so certain the manufacturer made a mistake when packing the bag, I bought another WBL 653. The second one is the exact same size. I've tried compressing the gasket as much as possible in both locations but there's still a lot of slack remaining.

I don't have any reason to believe it's possible to install it this way, so I've not attempted it yet.

Does anyone have photos of WBL 653 on the glass by itself or just the frame by itself? Has anyone used this same item successfully, after initially thinking it was way too big?

The elevator doors don't open until I walk away. In other words, I couldn't have gotten the gasket to fit the frame without posting first, even though I worked hard beforehand to avoid posting... So it sounds like I'll have a good chance at making it fit with the glass too. We'll see - hopefully before another 20 months pass.

I have been hearing complaints on the Precision WBL 653,,,,peoples say its too big,,,,,,,one guy called Precision and I think he says they cranked out a bad batch or mislabled them,,,,,they are sending him another one from a different batch,,,,,,but,,,,,,if it dont fit tight on the windshield,,,,,it is WRONG,,,,,if you are in a big hurry, you can cut it and glue it back together,,,,,

Hey Don,

I'm the guy that called them, suspecting a bad batch being produced two years ago. I did get another gasket from precision and it's the same size. They did confirm it's at least from a different batch of production than my 2y old gasket.

I DID get the gasket to fit into the frame by itself without too much trouble this tme. It's a bit compressed, but I don't think that part of it will be a problem at all. HOWEVER, it still fits very loose on the glass (falling off on both of the short sides of the glass). I hope to attempt installing this weekend, but I'm worried about handling the glass while having a very loose gasket on it. If I can get it to work, I'll clear the air about the sizing of this item.

this is what I got once upon a time,,,,,,,a WBL 653,,,,,,,,,too big,,,,,actually it turned out to be a WBL 693 for a 2nd Gen,,,if yours aint this bad,,,,,,it might just be a bad reproduction,,,,,,let me run a test on some parts I got tomorrow,,,,,

The slack you're showing in that picture is exact same amount and position/placement of what I started out with using my 653. In order to absorb that slack, I started shifting that section of slack counterclockwise while pushing the rubber in the opposite direction as I was laying back down on the frame's edge. Somewhere between half and three quarters of a revolution, all of the slack was completely absorbed (without using lube). This whole dry fit process took no more than five minutes.

I hammered that gasket in,,,,,still too long,,,,,,,absorbing on the glass would just pop it off,,,,,

And I pounded my wbl 653 in too, then was able to absorb that big amount of slack you've shown in your window frame.  In the pictures below, the first shows the absorbed slack while on my window frame and the other shows the amount of initial slack on my glass without any attempt to absorb slack.

(The pic of my gasket in the window frame above actually shows it installed wrong side out. I was doing a quick dry fit, one of many while pondering things. The slack can be absorbed just as easily with the correct side out.)