2100v Windshield Help

[Johnmhat]

I have a 2002 21V riders edition with a missing (read shattered and removed) left windshield. I have the part number to order, it is only the main glass that is gone...but I am looking for some advice and/or experience from the crew here on how best to repair. Without going too far down a rabbit hole in describing the mounting setup, I was hoping someone could chime in with some pointers. The sidewall is relatively sealed or very very difficult to access to get a socket on the nut to loosen/remove the bolts holding the frame. I am wondering if I can simply remove the top part of the frame and "slide" the new glass in. I don't think it will be that easy, but wanted to ask prior to opening up a whole can of damn it.

thanks guys

[KoolAid]

I really don't recall ever swapping the glass on one but that doesn't mean it cant be done. I would assume the back wing/glass will have to be out of the way first and maybe you can do it with the base frame still mounted to the boat. I would be more concerned about the windshield frame being in a bind when it was lined up at the factory to meet the gel coated edge of the boat. May be really difficult to get the glass to fit into the extrusion and rubber because of this.

Grab a hold of the nuts with a set of vice grips and have another person use a cordless drill to back out the screws. There should be 3 to 4 that were through bolted. I think the rest of them just screwed into the glass. Either way, if they are bolted with lock nuts you will not be able to use those pieces again. The screws were way long at the factory to make them easier to install. Then they were snapped off at the nut. Long winded but you need to know this info.