Trouble free wipers, NOT!

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retneprac

retneprac

Well-Known Member
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Location
Bedfordshire
So spent a bit of time late last summer replacing the entire wiper assembly, worm, motor, wheel boxes, wiper arms, switch, in the hope that while the dash was out it was worth replacing the lot.

So not a lot wiper action later (in terms of hours of use) passenger side fails on the way to Redruth, so dive in a Halfords for a spanner as didn't take the usual box of a hundred, removed the arm.

Question is, with one working, assume the motor and worm are fine, guess its the wheel box that has failed.
as the spindle that exits the body isn't turning, I'm guessing the spindle and wheel are probably not as one any more. Can anyone suggest a bullet proof make that will last longer than the Britpart one I fitted only summer? Really looking forward to taking the dash out again!:(NOT. BTW 2004 110 TD5.

Cheers all.
 
My colleague bought a pair of Br**part wiper wheel boxes last summer. They lasted about two days, total and utter junk. I'm afraid your only surefire option is to buy some genuine ones, at the inflated price.
We ended up greasing and refitting the 26 year old originals which, although show plenty of play, actually work properly..
 
Sounds like the same problem I've had. The gear wheel is only crimped onto the spindle - it looks like they do it with a ring shaped punch. If you get the spindle out and go round the join between the gear wheel and the spindle with a punch or cold chisel you can notch it a bit and get them to grip one another once more. I've given mine a new lease of life in this way. A bit of weld would be even better.
 
£33 for a genuine wheelbox, hardly extortionate compared to ****part when you consider the amount of faff that is required to get to them.
 
These wipers are just awful.

When I did my rebuild I had the dash off the bulkhead so replaced the drive cable with an OE part from Rover and rotated the splines 90 degrees on the wheel boxes onto the unused part; only replace wheelboxes if they have actually failed or the bosses are very worn. I opened up the motor and checked the gear and worm drive, stripped it, cleaned it and rebuilt it with a suitable grease. All looked good. Wipers still terrible. I personally think the drive cable elongates and shrinks again under use if you think about it. It's a tight hard spring metal spring. It can't be as good as a solid piece of steel for example.

I am doing a 'headaches' list on the 90 this Spring and the wipers are one of them. I am going to attempt to remove the system and fit a total custom system. I'd like to fit a system with solid linkages and 1 part drive bosses. We will see.
 
I had this while in Mongolia (just mentioning that to show off) - I couldn't face taking the whole thing out so i just got the top dash off, tapped the 'peg' arm back into the cog and got a Mongolian to spot weld it in place, done. If you can't face all the long work and can get it done that way, it worked for me.
 
My wipers have always been fine, but yesterday it was frozen and the wipers jammed in the middle of the screen. I pulled on one of the arms to try and get them to park and it jumped a tooth. Now the N/S arm jumps a tooth on every sweep and l had to remove it so the drivers side one still works.

So l've got to take it all apart. It seems the N/S spindle was full of water which froze. The O/S one seems fine so l might get away with a new cable and N/S spindle.
 
lightning said:
My wipers have always been fine, but yesterday it was frozen and the wipers jammed in the middle of the screen. I pulled on one of the arms to try and get them to park and it jumped a tooth. Now the N/S arm jumps a tooth on every sweep and l had to remove it so the drivers side one still works.

So l've got to take it all apart. It seems the N/S spindle was full of water which froze. The O/S one seems fine so l might get away with a new cable and N/S spindle.
Click to expand...

My wipers do work generally, they pass the MOT but they just don't much like going all the way back to the rest position, I would not say they are fine, I would not accept them if it was a new vehicle. Originally I set the blades sort of midway in relation to the shaft's sweep, so they went down a little lower but didn't come up as high and soon I decided it was much better to have the better visibility up to the top and right over to the OS of the windscreen. I also feel the wipers really lack power, if you have no water on the window they struggle to sweep. Compare it to any other vehicle really where the wipers will sweep strongly across a bone dry windscreen. The motor I am happy is OK but I am going to hark back to the drive cable. I almost guarantee that it will be stretching under the pull (wiper up) which is why it feels weak.
 
Mine do random sweeps, so normally they are fine, but every now and again they hit the edge of the windscreen...

I've changed everything so no idea what causes that!
 
retneprac said:
So spent a bit of time late last summer replacing the entire wiper assembly, worm, motor, wheel boxes, wiper arms, switch, in the hope that while the dash was out it was worth replacing the lot.

So not a lot wiper action later (in terms of hours of use) passenger side fails on the way to Redruth, so dive in a Halfords for a spanner as didn't take the usual box of a hundred, removed the arm.

Question is, with one working, assume the motor and worm are fine, guess its the wheel box that has failed.
as the spindle that exits the body isn't turning, I'm guessing the spindle and wheel are probably not as one any more. Can anyone suggest a bullet proof make that will last longer than the Britpart one I fitted only summer? Really looking forward to taking the dash out again!:(NOT. BTW 2004 110 TD5.

Cheers all.
Click to expand...
I had numerous wiper problems and took the less expensive route which was a very costly and time consuming mistake! After three replacement motors I purchased a genuine LR motor and it works - "perfectly". After prolonged dry periods (quite rare here in Ireland) the blades stick to the screen but a brief spray from the washer and all is well.

I am reluctant to over tighten the wheel box in case I damage the worm and know that it is very important to feed the worm through the wheel boxes and not to attempt to clamp them down onto the worm.

Buy the LR motor and you should be good to go for at least three years or even more.
 
What is meant by "not over tightening the wheel box"
On my TD5 there doesn't seem to be any way to "tighten" the wheel boxes? They are attached with two bolts and there's nothing else.
 
Found the fault, broken drive cable, about 11 months old, you guessed it Britpart.

Looking for a proper Landy part now.

Is RTC202 the correct drive cable for my 2004 TD5 110?
 
lightning said:
What is meant by "not over tightening the wheel box"
On my TD5 there doesn't seem to be any way to "tighten" the wheel boxes? They are attached with two bolts and there's nothing else.
Click to expand...

It might be the case that I am misleading you. When I connect the wheel box's they are in two parts which clamp onto the steel screw worm. In the past the gear wheel has not meshed correctly with the worm. If I tighten up the two pieces of the wheel box I could crush the worm.

Does that make anymore scense ?
 
Alan Crossley said:
It might be the case that I am misleading you. When I connect the wheel box's they are in two parts which clamp onto the steel screw worm. In the past the gear wheel has not meshed correctly with the worm. If I tighten up the two pieces of the wheel box I could crush the worm.

Does that make anymore scense ?
Click to expand...
Didn't think you could crush the drive worm as its in a sleeve.
 
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