Here's what you do:

Get a helper who will stand outside the car while you climb into the back. Now, put your back up against the side of the car and place your feet (with shoes and socks on) against the lower rear corner of the window glass and start pressing. Don't kick -- just a firm press. You'll notice that the gasket will start to distend. Don't worry about breaking the glass -- it's really tough stuff. Just go slowly and firmly, it'll come. Work your feet along the bottom edge to the front lower corner of the glass. By this time you'll probably have the gasket popped off the sheet metal flange of the car body. Work up the sides towards the top margin. Work along the top while your partner is outside holding on to the pane. It should slip free at this point. Notice that it won't come straight off at the top -- the rain gutter is in the way; you'll need to lower the glass down and away to get the glass free at the top edge.

Treat any rusty sheetmetal with POR-15 or a substitute. Clean up your gaskets with lacquer thinner. Get yourself a couple of tubes of black RTV and maybe 25 feet of smooth slippery nylon braided rope no more than 1/4" in diameter. If the metal trim on the outside of your gasket has come off, replace it -- you won't get it back on after the window has been replaced.

Now, run a thick bead of black RTV down into the slot in the gasket that slips over the window, and place it onto the window glass. Now run a thick bead of black RTV around the outside of the sheet metal flange. Take your braided nylon rope and insert it down into the slot in the gasket which would fit around the sheet metal flange. Have the ends of the rope crossing at the bottom of the pane, not the top.

Now crawl back inside (put some gloves on to protect you from rope burn), and have your assistant lift the glass panel, with gasket on, up to the sheet metal flange. It needs to be lifted up from below to get under the rain gutter. Rope ends should be inside, with you. Now, have your assistant press the glass into place, and you start pulling on one end of the rope. The rope will distend the gasket up and over the flange. Pull the rope end along the bottom edge to a corner, up the side, towards the top edge. Now do the other end across the bottom and up its side. Keep pulling on the rope and the gasket will magically insert itself over the flange. When you get the rope all out, the window will be in place. Clean up any RTV mess with rags and lacquer thinner.

This procedure works for the side windows. I've done four of these. I've never done the tailgate window, but it should be a similar procedure. It solved the leak problems of 3 of the 4, and reduced the 4th to an infrequent trickle. I should go back and re-goo it with RTV -- I got lazy and didn't do it right last summer.

Rob Kuhlman