Wiper drive assembly

[rustynuts]

Well last weekend I got around to the electrical on my 100. I looked under the dash for the wiper motor and it was gone. Yesterday I went to the fellow I bought the car from and found the motor sitting on the wall in his garage. So last night I pulled it apart and freed up the armature. Then I took the drive bears apart. The grease was like semihard cheese. So I took the gears out gently. Unfortunately not gentle enough 'cause the the one with the needle bearings flew out of my made and landed on the floor about 4 ft away. I looked inside the housing and found that 3 needle bearings where missing. I found 1 stuck in the grease of the housing, 1 on the floor near the landing spot of the gears, and I couldn't find the 3rd one. So this morning at 5 AM I went out to the garage and went to the landing spot and looked around and there it was under some stuff. I then cleaned all parts and now have to reassemble the needle bearings. I have a good idea as to how to get them all back in place but just thought I'd share my adventure and see if anyone had a trick up their sleeve.
Dennis

 

[shorn]

Re: wiper drive assembly

Recently I found that brake cleaning fluid (spray can) did a remarkable job disolving semi hard grease. It also drys quickly allowing for new grease to be applied to necessary parts.

 

[Michael Oritt]

Re: wiper drive assembly

I have a problem with my wiper motor, which is off of a later car and has the self-parking feature. If I turn it on for any length of time it will not shut off even when the switch is pushed back in. Sometimes it will run on for two or three minutes and I have been forced on a few occassions to pull off the road and turn off the ignition switch to kill the wipers!

I am told that in order to have the self-parking function the motor is wired with the hot to the motor and that the dash switch (and the self-parking rotator contact) provides the ground, and that grease and dirt is providing another ground, permitting the motor to operate even after the switch is turned off.

Is there any way of repairing this with the motor in place? I shudder to think of getting it off of the car.

 

[GregW]

Re: wiper drive assembly

Hi Michael,
Yes, the switch on the dash is ground. The park contact is in the gear housing. You might be able to unbolt the motor from its mount and rotate it so the park adjustment cap is facing you (it’s normally on top naturally). The knurled nut on the cable housing will need to be undone to get any flex from the cable. Removing the pinch plate (the ring with 4 hex head screws) that holds the park adjustment cap will get you where you need to clean. I’ve never tried to work on the wiper assembly in the car, hopefully there is enough play to do what you need. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

P.S. Note the position of the park adjustment cap before you remove it so the wipers will stop in the same place.

 

[rustynuts]

Re: wiper drive assembly

Today I reasembled the gears in the wiper control box( I guess you'd call it). I first put a little white grease on the shaft of the gear and then put the needle bearings back on , stuck to the grease. I did the row that is against the gear face. Then I carefully slid it into the hole. Then packed the empty space on the outside of the housing with white grease and carefully put the second row of needle bearings in from the outside of the gear housing. Then the retaining clip. Worked just fine.