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Wonky Wipers


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Hi Folks,

in August I posted that my 4A wipers went AWOL.

I had the motor repaired locally by some very old experienced auto electricians. When I fitted them they worked perfectly.

In early September they performed impeccably on my Irish tour.

 

Yesterday driving home from Gloucester they went wonky.

Switch on and they would move half way across the screen and stop.

Give them a flick with my outstretched hand and they carried on going until they got back to this position again.

 

Today I took the whole wiper mechanics apart.

Couldn't see too much wrong on first glance. But then I noticed the off side wheel box had odd wear marks on just two, side by side, teeth.

 

What was happening was, as the gear rotated the good teeth would push the cable along,

When it got to the worn teeth they not only pushed the cable but also forced it upwards and jam against the cover above the gear.

On the return rotation it was the other side of the tooth that push the cable so it did not get stuck.

 

Replaced the whole lot and all working good again.

 

The offside wheel box was also close to seizing due to corrosion on the gear shaft.

 

Roger

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Roger, I think you were lucky:-)

 

I had wonky wipers and my issue was that a brand new wiper box failed. It was moving up and down and the wiper could not grip on the shaft.

 

I bought another and it was all sorted.

 

 

Fitting the box took a while though and I was glad it was passenger side as only the glove box had to come out.

 

Had it been drivers side I would still be swearing??!?!?!?

 

Best

 

Paul.

 

PS: Your tip on reaming the steering column bushes (mine are the nylon ones) has really worked out well. I am hopefully rebuilding the steering for the last time. The reamer I bought to do the job is adjustable from 18.5mm to 19.5mm and takes off the flat spots to stop the column being grabbed by the bushes. Cheers for that Roger. I owe you one. Best. Paul.

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Hi Paul,

there are two types of wiper arm attachment.

Ones that push onto the splines. And ones that have a wedge that is pulled up between the arm knuckle and the splined shaft.

 

When I got my two wheel boxes today I was asked which type of arm I have. I have the wedge type.

'Oh Good' says the counterman ' as they don't mate with the splines too well'

 

Roger

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Hi Paul,

there are two types of wiper arm attachment.

Ones that push onto the splines. And ones that have a wedge that is pulled up between the arm knuckle and the splined shaft.

 

When I got my two wheel boxes today I was asked which type of arm I have. I have the wedge type.

'Oh Good' says the counterman ' as they don't mate with the splines too well'

 

Roger

 

The wheelbox sound like something from the 'lost consonant'. 'Rap

 

PS. I had some repro wheel boxes from a trade customer to investigate A while back and the repro had more spindle to bush wear than my knackered TR 3 samples. Oh Dear.

 

Peter W

Edited by BlueTR3A-5EKT
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They should be called 'Weeper boxes':-))))) because that is what you do when they fail. Sod to replace in built up car.

 

Mine are cool now. Really happy with them (Until next time:-)

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Hi Charlie,

indeed I could have moved them around to use the unworn teeth.

One also had a very stiff spindle and the little rubber boot at the top of the spindle was missing AND the chrome nut was seriously seized.

 

I decided to renew both wheel boxes and start again - these should last me out.

 

They weren't too frightening in price - about £20 each.

 

Roger

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I decided to renew both wheel boxes and start again - these should last me out.

 

 

 

Roger

Hi Roger

 

Were they repro wheelboxes? If so anything like Minispares ones they may not last that long, so I trust you are not planning to pop off anytime soon! :)

 

I think the worst '60's wiper technology fail must go to Ford on the Thames etc with its vacuum driven wipers. All right until it was bucketing down and you were flat out up a steep hill!

 

Regards

 

Kevin

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Hi Kevin,

they are the Moss item #66 http://www.moss-europe.co.uk/shop-by-model/triumph/tr2-4a/electrical-system/wipers-washers/wiper-motor-racks-wheel-boxes-tr2-4a.html wheel boxes.

They look well made but haven't really tested them yet in a down pour.

 

I had an early Ford thingy with the vacuum wipers - somebody must have been having a laugh

 

Roger

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Ha, didn't they where were meant to actually work and wipe rain away? :D. I keep a good coat of ceramic or teflon based polish on mine - though I do try not to venture out in the rain with it. Too much work to put on and take off the top.

 

Don

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TR wipers are much maligned. It almost seems to be an international pastime to see whose wipers are worst. As a safety critical item I've always kept mine in good condition and they work very well on both speeds. With a VW sourced intermittent wipe relay they're even better. There. Now they'll break.

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Hi Pete,

I agree that they are good when working. Sadly they can suddenly do strange things.

 

I had no need to touch mine for 10+ years but in August the motor went dicky.

This was sorted by a couple of very old auto electricians and the motor became an F1 GT wiper motor.

 

I think the shock of all this new vitality was too much for the wiper boxes.

 

Anyway all looks good now.

 

Roger

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  • 11 months later...

Hi folks,

just to continue the saga of the 'wonky wipers'.

 

Well a year later and things have gone full circle. Last week the wiper motor finally expired, dead, gone to meet it's maker, deceased.

 

A dead wiper motor shouldn't be the end of the world. But it is when you are very close to the end of the world - Lewis in the Hebrides.

Out with the motor and drive cable. Attach the laces from my trainers and operate the blades by hand - don;t laugh it got me home.

 

I have a new TR6 motor to fit back in but today I thought I would take the dead one apart.

 

The insulation on the resistance winding was falling off big time.

When desoldering the wire I had the feeling that it wasn't actually soldered but stuck in place!!!

The field winding showed OK with a meter as did the armature.

 

As an experiment I refitted the old resistance wire. As there was no insulation I used RTV silicon to hold the windings in place.

Rather than trying to solder it I crimped the ends of the wire to a small length of copper wire with a copper ferule. This soldered a treat.

 

On test it appeared to work OK. I left it to run for an extended period. After about twenty minutes the motor body was quite hot. The motor stopped.

I gave it a tap and it started. This repeated itself - too often to be any good.

 

What was causing the intermittent action I don't know at the moment.

 

So it looks like I will have to fit the TR6 motor after all. That will be at the end of the week.

 

Has anybody considered drilling holes in the sides of the motor body and attaching a small computer fan to help cooling.!!!

 

Roger

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When I was at Brunel in the late 50s/early 60s, a friend had an 1172 Ford with vacuum wipers. Going up hill in heavy snow was quite an experience as the only way to clear some of the screen was to momentarily lift off the throttle. But that reduced our speed and, with only 3 forward speeds (even a pre-war Austin 7 had 4), one was between a rock and a hard place.

Dave later bought a Zephyr Zodiac (2600 cc), a lot more torque, but still with 3 speeds, vacuum wipers - and drum brakes, which did fade, as we discovered when, with 4 up, we were descending a steep hill in Devon and Dave said, "can't reduce speed, what do I do if we meet something?". I said that he would have to use the roadside bank as a brake - but we were lucky and didn't meet anyone..

Ian Cornish

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The classic line in that clip, and how many of us have been there, 'That took three times longer than necessary to replace something that was already working'!!!!, cheers, Andrew

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Hi Folks,

well, it was a good day in most part.

The short loom for the motor arrived today. It was expected for Thursday but somebody pulled out all the stops.

The SVC site suggests using a particular toggle switch. This is not shown in the Moss webcat. So when I went to collect the loom I asked my man Eddie.

He had on in stock. This fits OK but is a toggle switch with the sticky out prong. It works.

 

I wired the motor up on the bench and lo and behold it actually works.

Two of the required wires are already insitu. I needed to install two extra wires.

The motor is held in place by a horseshoe bracket. Not sure what went wrong but it looks awful - will redo tomorrow.

 

Time for switch on - it works - Hurray.

Not all good news; the parking device leaves the wipers on the near side, not the offside.

 

How do you move the parking position for the wipers.???

 

Tomorrow should be fun.

 

Roger

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