Windscreen wipers

[james christie]

In preparation for a wet summer and even a visit to Malvern, I’m about to soft glue the windscreen wiper arms to the splines in exaspération. They leap off at the first opportunity, the little clips no longer performing their function - did they ever?
Is anybody going to tell me that I’m making a serious mistake?

james

[BlueTR3A-5EKT]

Could be rubbish wiper arms of course…….Roger has had this problem I think and proposed pink ribbon to tie the things on.  I went for stainless steel wire locking.   A more engineering based solution.

 

 

Edited March 17 by BlueTR3A-5EKT

[james christie]

Well, I’ve got a drawerful of wiper arms that I could try. Won’t be going the pink ribbon route though, some folks might get the wrong idea. Like the SS wire route.

james

[trchris]

I’ve got the arms that use a Phillips screw to tighten onto the wheel box to help keep it on l used gorilla glue on the splind portion that attaches using the screw yet to use in anger but stayed attached when dry run tested 

Chris

[Andy Moltu]

My experience of the screw on type is that they have nothing to lock into the groove on the wiper box. They grip well enough on the splines to prevent slippage but ultimately nothing to resist axial movement bar friction. Over time the spring pressure of the wiper, along with vibration and temperature changes cause them to pop off. 

The push on ones might not engage with the splines as well but at least have something to engage with the groove.

It’s a shame the screw on ones don’t have anything to hook in the groove. 

Where is the problem? Is it the wiper boxes or the arms? I’ve only experienced it on the 4a and never the 6. 

I think I will go with the lock wire option. 

[james christie]

The splined arms have a little spring which is supposed to clip under the splined part on the shaft. If the splines on the arms and the spindle seem to work fairly efficiently - although they do wear - this is not the case of the clip which is useless and barely holds the two together.

I plan a belt and braces operation using blue Loctite to hold the splined buts together together with the Pete Wigglesworth wiring arrangement to stop them flying apart at the wrong moment.

I should then be prepared for summer

james

[BlueTR3A-5EKT]

7 minutes ago, james christie said:

The splined arms have a little spring which is supposed to clip under the splined part on the shaft. If the splines on the arms and the spindle seem to work fairly efficiently - although they do wear - this is not the case of the clip which is useless and barely holds the two together.

I plan a belt and braces operation using blue Loctite to hold the splined buts together together with the Pete Wigglesworth wiring arrangement to stop them flying apart at the wrong moment.

I should then be prepared for summer

james

You say the clip is useless.   I suspect you are struggling with repro arms as the genuine l(Lucas?) ones I have feature a good spring clip that retains the arm to the wheel box once the clip engages in the unsplined part of the wheel box stem.   We used to get Tex arms that had a screw fitting that when tightened moved a crescent shaped lock into the unsplined groove.   Those arms could only be removed if the screw was loosened.  
This could become a ‘show and tell’ article if I go digging in the garage.  

One thing I do recall is that the collet fit arms on TR2/A30 etc were continually coming loose.   You always knew when one arm came loose or worse still, fell off the wheel box shaft….the other wiper would speed up from its lethargic crawl across the rain soaked screen to a casual meander.

[james christie]

I am not at home at the moment so can't take a photo but I'm almost certain they are repros

james

[stuart]

2 hours ago, BlueTR3A-5EKT said:

You say the clip is useless.   I suspect you are struggling with repro arms as the genuine l(Lucas?) ones I have feature a good spring clip that retains the arm to the wheel box once the clip engages in the unsplined part of the wheel box stem.   We used to get Tex arms that had a screw fitting that when tightened moved a crescent shaped lock into the unsplined groove.   Those arms could only be removed if the screw was loosened.  
This could become a ‘show and tell’ article if I go digging in the garage.  

One thing I do recall is that the collet fit arms on TR2/A30 etc were continually coming loose.   You always knew when one arm came loose or worse still, fell off the wheel box shaft….the other wiper would speed up from its lethargic crawl across the rain soaked screen to a casual meander.

Tex arms with the screw fitting dont come loose your right Peter, Most problems with wiper arms coming off is cheap repros. TR2 ones were "Interesting" to say the least!

Stuart.

[Andy Moltu]

I had a Tex screw on one work off and I think Roger had a similar experience. The original Tex ones may have hooked in but the current ones don't seem to be designed this way.

[RogerH]

Hi Chris,

The pink Ribbon was something of a joke.

Out of interest, having used Gorilla glue on the splines how will you remove the wipers in future ?????

The problem with the Phillips screw and wedge is that the vibration of operation causes the screw to slacken off until the blade shoots off

Re-tightening every 1, 2 or 3 months keeps them secure. And off course upon checking they are always tight.

I do like the Pink Ribbon bodge tho'

 

Hi Andy,

 you are correctr. Going to Shepton Mallet last Summer the artm came off. Thankfully iy stayed on the bonnet until I could sort it out

 

Roger

[stuart]

Use a countersunk shake proof washer on the screw type.

Stuart.

[Lebro]

Well I have the push on type (TEX) with a clip to hold them on, & they have never come off (yet)

Bob

        

 

[tim hunt]

2 hours ago, stuart said:

Use a countersunk shake proof washer on the screw type.

Stuart.

I like this idea as belt and braces. I have a pair of TEX 'Wedgelock' wiper arms on the 4A (Part nos. U70944 and U70544) and they clamp firmly to the wheel box spindles. However, one frustration is that these arms cannot be pulled away from the screen and be retained in place, as can the original type of arm, facilitating cleaning of the screen or testing the wiper operation. Strangely, wedge lock arms for the TR6 do have this facility, as shown.

Tim