Windshield Wiper Experts

[Dan Kalinski]

On the '63, wipers used to park correctly. Let a friend drive the car where he was trying to find the lights and pulled the wiper switch with a dry windshield. Now they park at about a 20* angle from the cowl.

Read where Ron suggested to wet the windshield and see if they would park correctly with the appropriate drag so that the unit would "see" the extra friction and then park.

Tried this (mind you, the car has not seen rain in some time) with soap and water. Turning on the wipers, they power to the cowl and then begin their sweep and when turned off, they again park at that 20* angle.

Easy fix or is there need to remove and sort the parking mechanism?

Thanks very much for your help and advice.

Dan K.

[John Brooks]

Dan

They park when the switch inside the gear box opens. It's wired, so it moves from park and wipes, from the dash switch, the reverse power is held on the return stroke. If the dash switch is off is drives back to the stowed position and with no power from the dash switch, it stays put. There is not really any adjustment for position other than the spline post.

I would fold the up out off the glass and cycle them and see where they land. If they are still short, adjust them. The motor has a little inertia freewheel in the gear box, but the drag on the blade to the glass should make them stop in the correct spot.

[Brad Ripley]

It sounds like the wiper arms are not properly secured to the pivot shafts. You say it's a '63 car, so your car is a T-6. The shafts that come up thru the cowl look like the drawing below. The arms are merely pushed over the area where you see the serrations and then a cap nut clamps it down. New wiper arms have no serrations on the inside of the hole. When the arm is pushed into place, the serrations are formed in the arm. Everything is usually OK. But if old arms are used, the serrations can be worn away and therefore there's nothing to keep the arm tight to the shaft -- could be what's happened in your case.

Oh, BTW, the wiper motor has the same arrangement with serrations. Unless the whole wiper assembly has been taken apart, there is usually no problem there.