Comprehensive wiper modification, upgrade & maintenance

[coolwind57]

Pic intensive. 

 

I just performed all of this work over the past couple of hours and took lots of pictures.  So I thought why not share my work for those interested in the topic.  I do acknowledge that others have touched on these subject areas but I hadn't seen a guy do these upgrades/mods/repairs all at the same time--and with pictures. 

 

If I'm wrong and this is viewed as redundant, then moderators can delete with my apologies.  

 

So here's what I did:

1.  Replaced wiper linkage bushings--common wear items as these trucks age.  Worn bushings make your wipers fly all over the place--they sometimes bang up against the windshield trim and they won't stay oriented and move around too much.  Also could cause general looseness and noise.

2.  Upgraded to 97+ wiper arms.  They have a different terminating angle but more importantly, they have the J-hook instead of the side-pin.  Many would agree that the J-hook is superior and holds the wiper blade with more stability, which may cut down on chatter and noise.  

3.  Added an additional ground wire for the wiper motor (Cruiser54's suggestion)

4.  Cleaned out old, hardened grease inside the wiper assembly body, and repacked with moly grease (Cruiser54's suggestion).

 

HERE GOES:  Remove your wiper arms.  If you're not familiar, grab a flat head screwdriver and pry that little tab over on the wiper arm body.  It's close to the post coming out of your truck.  Just stick it in between the wiper arm body and the tab itself  and twist,  moving it outbound as you lift your wiper from the windshield.  This will lock it in an upwards position.  Then pull your wiper arms up and off.  If you'd not had them off in a while, they may be a booger.  Gently pry and wiggle if necessary.  Now, remove your wiper arm grill and interior cover.

 

Next grab a T30 and remove the four (4) bolts that are nearest the two wiper posts that your arms were attached to. 

 

You can ziptie your passenger side washer tube to possibly save you from some future fishing of this thing later.

 

There's a 10mm bolt holding the wiper motor body too.  It's down in that sump area.  Get him.

 

Now this next step can be a pain.  pull the detached motor assembly to the driver's side and try all kinds of turning, rotating and light manipulating until you successfully remove it from the sump area.  Disconnect your wiring harness and bench it.  

 

This is what it looks like with the rubber protective cover pulled back, exposing the gear housing.

 

The motor gear housing has four bolts holding the cover on.  I think it's probably an 8mm bolt, but I had a 9/32 socket handy at the time, and it worked well for me.  There's a gasket under this cover plate that you're removing, so try not to bugger it up.

 

So, here's what mine looked like inside...lots of hardened grease.  I used some screwdrivers, Q-tips and small shots of WD40 to loosen and remove that crap. I followed up with a very quick shot of carb spray followed with immediate air circulation so that I didnt melt those plastic gears.  It was a risk, but I was quick at it and there appears to have been no damage done.  It really worked well.  Don't forget to clean those contacts on the inside of the lid. 

 

By the way, do you see that fourth contact that all alone by himself, pointing in the opposite direction?  That's your ground.  That contact is fed by the BLACK wire going to the wiring harness.  **NOTE THIS WIRE AS CRUISER54 suggests adding an additional ground wire to it**

 

Add an additional ground wire to your black wire.  I ran about 12-18".  The goal is to gain a second, more closely located ground source.  I just attached my end to the body (You'll see later where I chose).   The pic below doesn't show where I tied into the existing wiper black wire ground.  I recommend soldering and sealing her up real nice.  

 

 

Cleaned up.

I repacked my gear housing with a molyB grease.  Using a Q-tip, I worked it into the teeth of the gears as best I could.  Clean up your mating surfaces, reuse your gasket if you think it's still good.  I did, and I also used a tiny bit of RTV just to ensure it sealed up well.

 

Next job is to replace your worn bushings.  Buy this kit.  It'll have a bunch of stuff inside that you won't need.  You just need 3 specific ones.  

 

Locate the three (3) bushings on your linkages that are to be replaced.  Mine on my 89 were black.  One near the center and two on the driver's side of the assembly.

 

Grab you a flat-tip screwdriver and pop them off.  It's essentially a ball joint.  The old bushings can be easily removed by using a socket to cover the top and a set of channel locks to squeeze them off your linkages.  Installing the new ones are reverse process.  

 

Notice that your channel locks are pressing the bushing inside the large socket you've placed there.  Works like a charm.

 

Again, installation is reverse of removal.  Out with the old and in with the new.

 

 

I chose to lube up the ball joint with some molyB grease, but perhaps you wouldn't have to.  Use your channel locks to reinstall you linkages back together.

 

Check the tightness of your three motor bolts!!!   Why are mine so shiny and new looking?  Last year, I had to replace mine because they became loose and some even popped out. I think I even had to retap one or all of them.  That sucked.   I'd recommend you remove, lock-tite and reinstall your bolts so they won't be a problem later.

 

Once you're done with new bushing and reinstalling your linkages back, I'd strongly recommend popping your hood and removing the two brackets within that sump that will absolutely drive you crazy if you don't.  There's two and both have two integral 11mm bolts with nuts accessible under the hood on the firewall.  The lower bracket is where that 10mm bolt you removed earlier sits.  It is attached through the firewall and also mounts your MAP sensor housing.  The second bracket is to the right of it.  This one is simply a mounting bracket for you wiper grill.  Get them suckers out of the way.  You'll need to in order to get your wiper motor.linkage assembly back in the sump with minimal cursing.  

 

Drop your motor/linkage assembly back into the sump.  Reconnect your harness.  I used di-electric grease just along the connector interior to help prevent moisure issues. 

 

Get your four T30 bolts tightened, with one having your new ground wire.  I sanded to shiny metal here, then added OxGuard before final tightening.  

 

Reinstall your two sump brackets and reinstall the firewall bolts under your hood.  Button down the rest, like your inner and outer wiper grill.  

 

I bought 1997+ wiper arms off of Ebay.  I didn't pay much, maybe $20-25 for the pair.  You can get them new on Amazon, eBay or Rock Auto.  So here's the comparison.  New style on the right.

The curviture is very different and downward pressure is a bit more aggressive too.  The big difference is the J-hook end.  

 

I cleaned my new eBay 97+ arms and shot them with black bedliner spray.  Popped new wipers on and then installed them on the truck and tried them out.   Zero noise and I'm back in business like a gangsta.  

 

They do look a little different on the truck.  Not necessarily good, bad or better, just different in my eyes.  I'm happy.   

 

All this work should pay off in the long run by not causing an unexpected loss of wipers at a most inconvenient time.  I expect longer life and better performance with this work behind me now.   

 

 

 

[Pete M]

awesome work!  I'll add it to the master list.   

[gilbos440rt]

Much easier looking than I thought it would be! Great Job on the write up Thanks!

[cruiser54]

EXCELLENT!!!!!

[Richard 91]

One of my next projects thanks for doing this write-up will make my job much easier.

[MiNi Beast]

Nice write up. I can't say i have ever thought of doing something like this. can't say i have had any issues with my wipers other then junk blades. I can see wesr and tear being a good reason for the maintenance or replacement of bushings. My wipers work so when they don't ill reference this. Lol 

[coolwind57]

7 hours ago, MiNi Beast said:

Nice write up. I can't say i have ever thought of doing something like this. can't say i have had any issues with my wipers other then junk blades. I can see wesr and tear being a good reason for the maintenance or replacement of bushings. My wipers work so when they don't ill reference this. Lol 

 

Mine were horrible before doing these mods.  The blades would never consistently line up on the windshield and no matter how i adjusted them, they'd usually always slide off onto the windshield trim, making noise.  The bushings were the culprit to this issue.  

 

I especially like the upgraded 97+ wiper arms with the J-hooks over the stock pin-type arms.  The design just makes so much more sense.  

 

Also, upgrading the grounds--across the entire truck, is always a need on our MJs. 

[youngfred]

...

 

 

Just finished the upgrade and maintenance

with the added ground wire, new bushings

and MolyB grease.

 

Cleaned the three Contacts and the circular

contact area.

 

The Delay and the Fast speed work fine.

I don't have a Slow Speed now???

 

What gives?

 

 

youngfred

 

 

 

[coolwind57]

2 minutes ago, youngfred said:

...

 

 

Just finished the upgrade and maintenance

with the added ground wire, new bushings

and MolyB grease.

 

Cleaned the three Contacts and the circular

contact area.

 

The Delay and the Fast speed work fine.

I don't have a Slow Speed now???

 

What gives?

 

 

youngfred

 

 

 

One thing stands out to me:  You mention a "delay" mode....  I don't have a delay on my 89.  Just a Off/LOW/HIGH switch on my steering column stem.  

 

I wonder if the additional ground has something to do with it.  Was your wiring exactly as mine are in the pics?

[youngfred]

9 minutes ago, coolwind57 said:

One thing stands out to me:  You mention a "delay" mode....  I don't have a delay on my 89.  Just a Off/LOW/HIGH switch on my steering column stem.  

 

I wonder if the additional ground has something to do with it.  Was your wiring exactly as mine are in the pics?

...

 

 

The original black ground wire on the lid connector

is soldered/pressed-on, to the lid.

I just added a ground wire to one of the 5 lid screws.

 

 

youngfred

 

[coolwind57]

4 minutes ago, youngfred said:

...

 

 

The original black ground wire on the lid connector

is soldered/pressed-on, to the lid.

I just added a ground wire to one of the 5 lid screws.

 

 

youngfred

 

I'm still curious if your wiring setup is different than the ones I have in my photos.  Again, I have no "delay" feature.

 

I ran my ground wire to one of the T30 bolts mounting one of the wiper arm stems.  I wonder if you're grounding out the LOW by using the lid instead or something.  

[youngfred]

46 minutes ago, coolwind57 said:

I'm still curious if your wiring setup is different than the ones I have in my photos.  Again, I have no "delay" feature.

 

I ran my ground wire to one of the T30 bolts mounting one of the wiper arm stems.  I wonder if you're grounding out the LOW by using the lid instead or something.  

...

 

 

I did the same. I ran the ground wire

from the lid screw to the T30 Bolt as well.

 

I will pull the added Ground Wire

and see if the LO feature returns.

 

Thanks

 

 

youngfred

[Ωhm]

Can't you just eliminate the Delay Module by disconnecting the connectors from the module and then connect them together. See LO works then.

[youngfred]

37 minutes ago, Ωhm said:

Can't you just eliminate the Delay Module by disconnecting the connectors from the module and then connect them together. See LO works then.

...

 

 

I will jumper the Delay Module Connectors

to see if LO returns.

 

Thanks

 

 

youngfred

[ftpiercecracker1]

How is the speed of your wipers? Mine have always been very slow. Even on high they can barely keep up with even a moderate amount of rain forget an actual downpour.

[Pete M]

On 4/28/2020 at 1:10 PM, ftpiercecracker1 said:

How is the speed of your wipers? Mine have always been very slow. Even on high they can barely keep up with even a moderate amount of rain forget an actual downpour.

 

what repairs have you done so far?

[rsmecham]

On 4/30/2020 at 11:43 AM, Pete M said:

 

what repairs have you done so far?

I know that this hasn't been written on in a while, but I wanted to fix the speed of my wiper blades as well and I saw this post. Is the wiper blade speed a common problem? I've seen some other jokes on here about Arizonans needing faster speed for the rain, but I too, am an Arizonan and it's way too slow! Does this project fix such issues?

[Pete M]

On 7/23/2021 at 6:49 PM, rsmecham said:

I know that this hasn't been written on in a while, but I wanted to fix the speed of my wiper blades as well and I saw this post. Is the wiper blade speed a common problem? I've seen some other jokes on here about Arizonans needing faster speed for the rain, but I too, am an Arizonan and it's way too slow! Does this project fix such issues?

 

I would start with getting the wiring up to snuff and then lube or replace the bushings.  

[eaglescout526]

On 7/23/2021 at 3:49 PM, rsmecham said:

I know that this hasn't been written on in a while, but I wanted to fix the speed of my wiper blades as well and I saw this post. Is the wiper blade speed a common problem? I've seen some other jokes on here about Arizonans needing faster speed for the rain, but I too, am an Arizonan and it's way too slow! Does this project fix such issues?

Just do some typical maintenance like Pete suggested and it will get better. I lubed up every damn joint I could find, I have pretty fast wipers now. At this point it’s either something electrical or there’s something out of spec. 

[cruiser54]

The ground upgrade to the blower motor and wipers together make a noticeable difference. 

[Scottybbythesea]

To help with the removal of the entire assembly you can remove the little Mount that protrudes on the front of the cowl cavity. Simply remove the two nuts from the engine side of the firewall that hold it on. Makes it much easier to pull the assembly out. The OP mentions this later upon reinstalling but do it before removing the assembly. 

[cruiser54]

True dat^^,

[EUREKA]

I'm finishing this maintenance/upgrade today. I was in the process of adding new grease when I realized that my 88 MJ has only three spring-loaded contacts in the gearbox, and I have Hi/Lo/Delay settings that all work. Looks like my ground contact is bonded to the gearbox cover and supplied ground via the wire terminal on one of the cover screws.

 

 

 

[MJ Dougie]

I too wish to add my gratitude for the superb job done here. Several years ago during my rebuild effort I “ fired the parts cannon” replacing the wiper motor with no joy. Been living with slooooo wipers. I followed these guidelines and I’m happy to report complete restoration of “normal “ wiper speed. I’m so happy. Looking forward to driving in the rain. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.