I just purchased a 1989 Airstream 345 from a wonderful person here at the forum.
I've really enjoyed it so far - we've taken it camping once in a our first full week of ownership. I think I've given about 20 tours!!! Each tour has actually helped me discover new things about the Classic.
I am having trouble opening most of the windows. Only two seem to open very easily. Seems like there is a bunch of seal stuff that has maybe corroded over time and now is stopping the path of the window. Any help would be appreciated. Do I need to lubricate with something? If so what?
There is a rubber seal at the bottom that that fits in the track that the glass rides in. On mine I have used spray silicone to make the glass glide easier. Sometimes the rubber track gets bunched up or distorted in some way that prevents the glass from sliding. The seal is available but is a pain to replace but it can be done. The driver and passenger side windows are a little different in that they use fuzzy seals and they are available too.
I have used silicone spray with great results. Some of my sliders (not passenger or driver windows) don't slide as easly as all, but I believe it's from lack of use. Have replaced the front windows (driver and passenger) channels and fuzzy strips, after which they work easly. Silcone all window channels every month or two.
Here's something else to check. When the sliding windows are opened too forcefully, they can bend the slider frame at the bottom when it contacts the window frame. The sliders then have little bent protrusions that pinch the bottom of the window frame and make them very difficult to slide.
This happened to mine.
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AKA THE GUNNER There is no "I" in the word "team," but there are four in "Platitude Quoting Idiot!"
Spent the day unsticking the windows with the silicon spray. Thank you! It worked! I would love one day to replace with some of the fuzzy stuff but I'm am so relieved I can open the windows and they slide fairly well. I took more work than I expected but it did work. I had a bunch of dirt on the screen as well so I used the silicon spray on a rag and the dirt came off easily - I hope this works to 'cure' the screens and protect them as well. Everything seems precious- it's really fun to feel you are cleaning, preserving, and detailing something that is so well made.
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