God help me, changing out the top brace of a 125

[bradleyheathhays]

For reasons unbeknownst to me the top frame member of my 125 cracked through in three places when I was cleaning the joint with acetone in prep for resiliconing, so now I'm faced with the daunting task of replacing it. I think most top braces have the same general design but just in case here's a cross section of mine...

The right side of the frame is 2"

So the question is...how to break that silicone seal, and I honestly don't know the best way to approach it. My only idea so far involves using a long razor to split as much silicone as I can, then possibly dremmeling a cut line all along the very top of the frame directly above the glass pane. After that and a little more dremmeling on the corners, I'd hope some gentle prying from the outside bottom lip would be enough to bend each rail of the frame up and remove it in pieces.

So far the only method of frame removal I've seen suggested using piano wire to saw the silicone out. Not sure how well that would work.

Anybody done this job before? I'm all ears.

 

[manbeast]

just removed one recently myself, I cut the corners of the plastic trim bottom to top with a razor and then just started to get get my fingers under the trim on the outside and bending it up until the plastic just snapped at the 90 degree bend at the top, if the plastic was brittle enough to crack under a gentle cleaning then this shouldn't be to difficult but wear gloves to protect against sharp edges. once you have the outside done go at the inside the same way, of you don't have the hand strength to just bend and snap the plastic then I would start at the corner with the razor cutting up from the bottom and then follow along the glass with razor angled toward the glass to keep the razor dug in tight, If the plastic is difficult to cut you can try warming it with a hair dryer as you go and that should make the cutting go a bit easier, and just a side note make sure you have the new trim before you get started I took mine off my 46 bowfront and then had my lfs order the new trim they said " oh, that's speacial order it could take a month" and after patiently waiting a month they called me and left a message saying " that's special order it may take a month" luckily I'm not in a hurry
good luck!