Fixing RV and Bus Windshields

[screenman]

SGT, I think this depends on your customer base, all my tall vehicles repairs are carried out at major fleet customers who are fully equipped for what I need, we do have to remember that I often repair glass on double decker coaches, so for me to carry the scaffolding required for this job would be prohibitive. Also any equipment used for height work needs to be tested by the companies safety people, so they are happy if I use theirs. Now if you were doing mainly private customers I would agree that you should be prepared, however I would not be that happy carrying a rood rack full of ladders for 1 job a months that needed them.

[SGT]

Screenman, I understand what you are saying and if it works for some thats great but I just can't not wrap myself around that concept. To each their own. I am not saying it is wrong but I am sayiing it is not right for me. Thats all.

Cheers!

[blemon56]

RV's, Pickups, and towed vehicles are the main sorce of my business. I use a 6 ft. Little Giant. I don't like it because it's heavy... but I really like it because it's heavy! Did most of my work in Texas last year. Needless to say it's a bit breezy there. I never worry about the ladder blowing over. On occasion, I will borrow a customer's ladder if the damage is high up on a Class A Motorhome windshield. The Little Giant works for just about all other situation and fits in the back of my car. Hope this helps.

[candyman]

Good morning. I purchased last week an aluminum Painters ceiling ladder. Its about 6 ft tall. The ladder has a platform at the top with a short rail. You can stand on top of it with both feet. I've never seen one prior to this. A painter was selling all his equipment at a yard sale. It fit nicely in my SUV, or I can strap it to my roof lugage rack. It works great with a bus or RV. I haven't tried it with a Truck tractor yet. I paid $28 for it. He said new they are about $160.

[benswindshieldrepair]

Pardon me if I didn't thoroughly review the previous posts but I will suggest my personal solution: I pull my pickup truck (a 1/2T Dodge) up to the motor home and stand on the bed rail or in the back of the truck in order to reach those tall places...Sometimes, depending on the height, I set up my ladder in the back of the truck to perform repairs. I made a lot of money the past 2 summers repairing RV's and I charge extra for them too due to the extra materials and work. Good luck!!!

[the big welshman]

Hey there, When I am repairing a Coach windshield I use a 6ft ladder and I have a metal plate bolted to the top of the ladder so I can place my equipment on the plate on top of the ladder. When repair a Truck Windshield ie International or a Mack open the hood of the truck get the truck front wheels pointing outwards put a step ladder or larger ladder between the wheels/fender and the engine use a towl on top of the engine put Windshield kit on top of the engine, this method is much safer for you than being on top of the hood Ps HAVE SOME DIRTY CLOTHES WITH YOU

[puka pau]

For trucks: Open hood/bonnet. Climb up on tire(tyre). One foot on tire, one foot on truck frame. Tool kit on top of engine. Always make sure that the tire is clean of mud, sand, etc. Wet is no problem, but any organic or mineral detritus will present a slippery surface. I always have dirty clothes when working on trucks: they're the clothes I'm wearing!

Cheers;

Puka Pau

[glassdoctor]

How do you stand in the door jam when no room to swing a door wide open? Either you don't work any car lots, or you move every car you work on?

I have a couple friends who never used ladders, but they were around 6-4 and 6-8. btw, ladders don't damage vehicles. I've used a 2' alum step ladder on 1000's of cars and I can't recall EVER doing any damage to the car???? Gotta be careful with it just like everything else. Poor ladder gettin a bad rap... you know, guns don't kill.... people do.

Anyway, I carried a 4' step ladder back when I was doing some truck fleet type stuff. Don't do that anymore... and just use the 2' ladder. Occasionally I get a call to do a RV, but if I need something more than the 2', there is always a taller ladder around the shop if they have RV or bus etc.

[candyman]

I've stood in the door frame of large SUV's and trucks but not a car. Too hard to do it on a car and a chance of damaging the door, should you fall. I've had no problem using the step ladder. I have had problems as suggested earlier reaching the center of some of the large vehicles even with a ladder. I do use a modified fanny pack to keep my tools in when working under those conditions. I've damaged the pump on a bridge due to dropping it from high up. I haven't dropped one since I started using the pack. I keep only the itmes I need to do the repairs in it.

[glassdoctor]

Sometimes you can barely open a door enough just to get in the car (and I'm not a big guy), but there is always enough room for a ladder, so I'm not sure how that works. Maybe some of you are thinking of a bigger ladder I use this oneIf you stand in the door when there is a car next to it, the door can hit the other vehicle, which will not damage the car you're working on but it might put a ding in the other car. In 20 years working car lots, I've used the door jam plenty also... and my experience is that's THE most likely way to ding a car in the w/s biz. Gotta be SUPER careful unless you can swing the door wide open without hitting another vehicle.

The problem I have seen using a ladder is that it can kick out from under you if you aren't careful, especially in the winter. Might be embarrassing but doesn't hurt anything because you are already hugging a car so it's not like you fall down.... you just lose your balance a for a second and might have to reset the ladder if it moved much. But, once a long time ago I did bust a w/s when I was working a nasty chip high in the middle on a truck.... slipped and instinctively hung on to the injector as I lost my balance. That was enough to run the crack halfway down the w/s.

Interesting to see how different we look at things sometimes.