Rear glass blew out... (1 Viewer)

[ozarkmud]

We were driving on the highway yesterday and heard a thud. The rear glass had shattered, but was still intact (no open holes).

Very perplexing. Had to drive a few more miles to a small town to stop and clear out the glass before proceeding. The middle chunk fell out in that process. We think that the 80 kicked up a rock or something else (didn't quite sound like a rock) into the trailer, which bounced forward and hit the glass.

It's possible the glass shattered on its own, but it was a mild day and the road was smooth. I am thinking it was caused by something being kicked up and bouncing off the trailer.

Is pulling a trailer with a SUV more risky for this than a pickup? Seems like a pickup window would be a lot harder to reach, and with a lot less force, than a hatch window.

And aside from what, what should I do? It sounds like I can get the glass from a dealer for $830~. I'll call to some glass places on Monday to see if they have any in stock or if I should have the dealer ship it out. Is this a good DIY job? It looked doable, but not sure if I can get glass delivered here.

Thank you!

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[greentruck]

And aside from what, what should I do? It sounds like I can get the glass from a dealer for $830~. I'll call to some glass places on Monday to see if they have any in stock or if I should have the dealer ship it out. Is this a good DIY job? It looked doable, but not sure if I can get glass delivered here.

Dang, that is kinda weird. But possible, probably a greater possibility because there is no rear air deflector on your truck which might have offered some deflecting air to help against such a possibility.

And as it happens, I managed to total my truck last Sunday. Busted out most of the glass except for in the rear. We had to pull the rear glass to get the hatch open to clear out the drawers, so I just happen to have a pretty much pristine rear hatch glass on hand for some mysterious reason known only to the gods. DM me if interested, but I'm sure we can agree on a price + shipping that would be far less than $830.

 

[ozarkmud]

Dang, that is kinda weird. But possible, probably a greater possibility because there is no rear air deflector on your truck which might have offered some deflecting air to help against such a possibility.

And as it happens, I managed to total my truck last Sunday. Busted out most of the glass except for in the rear. We had to pull the rear glass to get the hatch open to clear out the drawers, so I just happen to have a pretty much pristine rear hatch glass on hand for some mysterious reason known only to the gods. DM me if interested, but I'm sure we can agree on a price + shipping that would be far less than $830.

Wow, that's crazy. I'm sorry to hear that.

Will definitely DM you! I have no idea about how one would pack glass like that. I guess kind of like a TV? Still seems tricky.

I didn't know you could get rear air deflectors on these. I've seen them on 3rd gen 4Runners. I'll have to look into that.

 

[bj70bc]

wrap the glass in saran wrap and spray foam in the shipping box

 

[greentruck]

wrap the glass in saran wrap and spray foam in the shipping box

Excellent tip!

 

[greentruck]

Wow, that's crazy. I'm sorry to hear that.

Will definitely DM you! I have no idea about how one would pack glass like that. I guess kind of like a TV? Still seems tricky.

I didn't know you could get rear air deflectors on these. I've seen them on 3rd gen 4Runners. I'll have to look into that.

Yeah, s*** happens. Dozed off 10 minutes from home after a three hour drive having been at a convention all weekend. Woke up when I went off the opposite side of the pavement, started correcting, but there was a culvert from a cross road too soon. Hitting that flipped the truck 180 straight forward. Thank goodness for airbags and wearing my seatbelt. I managed to get out on my own, ended with with a coupled of fractured ribs and a bruised area just below the right knee from hitting the dash or something. Will be looking for another 80 - with airbags.

Answered your DM.

I've seen a few air deflectors on 80s IIRC, but maybe just certain years with the port-installed rack?

 

[ozarkmud]

Yeah, s*** happens. Dozed off 10 minutes from home after a three hour drive having been at a convention all weekend. Woke up when I went off the opposite side of the pavement, started correcting, but there was a culvert from a cross road too soon. Hitting that flipped the truck 180 straight forward. Thank goodness for airbags and wearing my seatbelt. I managed to get out on my own, ended with with a coupled of fractured ribs and a bruised area just below the right knee from hitting the dash or something. Will be looking for another 80 - with airbags.

Answered your DM.

I've seen a few air deflectors on 80s IIRC, but maybe just certain years with the port-installed rack?

Wow, that is really scary! I am glad you were okay. These are such tough trucks so to see it so mangled further indicates how serious of an accident it was. Our rigs don't have airbags so hopefully we never need them. I think in a lot of other vehicles that could've looked a lot worse.

Somehow, accident photos of vehicles I own are a lot more gripping, and I guess make me realize the dangers a little more. Driving really is a dangerous activity. It's easy to take it for granted.

 

[greentruck]

Wow, that is really scary! I am glad you were okay. These are such tough trucks so to see it so mangled further indicates how serious of an accident it was. Our rigs don't have airbags so hopefully we never need them. I think in a lot of other vehicles that could've looked a lot worse.

Somehow, accident photos of vehicles I own are a lot more gripping, and I guess make me realize the dangers a little more. Driving really is a dangerous activity. It's easy to take it for granted.

Thanks to you and all those who've posted thoughts of support and concern.

I am really glad if I did such a maneuver, I did it in an 80 with air bags. I was doing about 50, maybe 55 when it happened. Driving can be hazardous, so it pays to be well-rested and alert. I had plenty of Coca-Cola in me, but still wasn't rested. I had a colonoscopy Thursday and you can't drive that day. But there is some fine print suggesting you take it easy for a week afterwards and maybe that's what did me in plus the long hours at the convention I was at.

I can't fault the truck's performance when the chips were down. The ARB looked pretty good but bent in subtle ways. I was really happy with the way my camper conversion/drawer system worked. The front half was bolted to the second row seat mounts, while back half was tied into a steel bar that spanned the third row mounts in the center. It was bent and things shifted forward about 3" to 4", but only had a bit of the front part on the driver's side that broke. Remarkably, the Front Runner footwell water tank didn't spring a leak,but did turn about 90 degrees as it pushed the Tuffy Box betwee n the front seats that it was tied to some, too.

 

[Tachycardic]

Wow! Happy to hear that you came out with relatively minor injuries. That pic is pretty scary.

OP, this is a great opportunity to pull the rubber gasket and check for rust (if any) and deal with it.

 

[ozarkmud]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the wait on this. I should've posted sooner.

The glass shop ended up having aftermarket rear glass for a good price. They said that tempered glass ends up being the same quality aftermarket for OEM (due to the rigors of the tempering process). They did say there's a difference with windshields, though.

Time will tell how true that is. So far the rear glass has been working out well. It is tinted more than the other windows, though. Not sure I like it that way, but it doesn't seem excessive.

One thing that is really weird is that the glass appeared very distorted when they put it in. At least, if you looked at it from the side, you could see "ripples" in it. Very oddly, that seems to have gone away entirely, or nearly entirely. The glass was flat when they put it in, and after install it domed out like the OEM glass. I know this might sound far-fetched, but I'm sure of it. I think this is due to the pressure in the cab, some how pushed it out a bit. Someone who knows glass could probably elaborate more. I think it took a few days, maybe a week, and a few driving trips for that to happen. Curious if OEM rear glass, out of the box, looks totally smooth and/or has the domed appearance.

I hope the aftermarket glass proves sufficient, though a part of me regrets not going with Toyota glass anyway. But it did make it convenient which was nice for getting it back on the road. Very surprised they had that glass in stock.

I appreciate the offers for glass and how helpful you all have been. It really was a pretty stressful and odd time, but no real issue in the end. If you do lose your glass though, don't throw away the gasket unless it's really shot!

 

[Kernal]

FWIW many years ago when the rear hatch glass on another LC got shattered the local glass installer hand cut a piece of flat glass to fit the opening. Not too long after that on a cold morning the new flat glass apparently being under stress (from being forced into a non-flat opening) cracked spontaneously.

Point is, any wavy-ness or distortion initially that's changed indicates to my little brain that the glass was under a lot of stress and maybe the stress/tension caused the glass to shift in the gasket??

Can you post up photos of the new glass, taken from the side maybe??

 

[ozarkmud]

FWIW many years ago when the rear hatch glass on another LC got shattered the local glass installer hand cut a piece of flat glass to fit the opening. Not too long after that on a cold morning the new flat glass apparently being under stress (from being forced into a non-flat opening) cracked spontaneously.

Point is, any wavy-ness or distortion initially that's changed indicates to my little brain that the glass was under a lot of stress and maybe the stress/tension caused the glass to shift in the gasket??

Can you post up photos of the new glass, taken from the side maybe??

Was that flat glass tempered? That's impressive to cut it out like that.

I can try, but there's so little "ripple" now that it's much harder to notice than it was. I should've taken a photo, or maybe a video, when I first got it.

 

[Kernal]

AFAIK it wasn't tempered, a shade tree fix (overseas) that didn't work.