75 cj5 - wiper linkage removal

I have a 74 cj5 with a 75 body. I removed the wiper motor last night, cleaned it up, and bench tested it. The motor runs, but I'm not sure it runs with the right amount of 'power'. It also gets warm pretty quickly. At any rate, I re-installed it to try it out. It 'hangs up' during certain points of the rotation. It seems that it can't get the wiper arm linkage 'over the hump' as it's rotating and just hangs up. I removed the mounting bolts to the motor, and ran it that way. The linkage wants to push the motor up and down pretty severely, but it will run the wiper arms this way. First, how do you get at the linkage that's inside the windshield frame. I'd like to inspect and lube it if possible. Additionally, does this symptom sound like maybe the motor itself is just not 'strong' enough to drive the blades?

Thanks,
Steve

 

You have access through a couple of holes in the back of the frame that are covered with plastic plugs. These are covered by the "padded dash" if you have one. You also have access through holes in the bottom of the frame - tilt the windshield down.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm headed out now to see what I can find!

steve

 

Re: 75 cj5 - wiper linkage removal - NOW WHAT?

Ok, I was able to get at the wiper linkage. It appears fine, no binding etc when motor is removed and I manually move the arms or linkage bars. I didn't remove the linkage, but cleaned the hinge points and lubed them, then put the motor back in. With the motor installed and bolted down, it stops (gets hung up) when the linkage arm reaches its maximum throw. If I take the bolts out of the motor and let it 'flop around', it'll run the blades ok, but when bolted down, it hangs at that full extension point. Could it be that the motor is just worn out and not 'strong' enough to drive through the maximum extention point? I have no problem getting a new motor, but don't want to waste $100 if this theory does not fly. Any thoughts on the likelyhood that the motor is the culprit?

BTW, I'm new here, but spent a lot of time today reading through hundreds of posts. Great site. This is the best CJ info site I've found.

Thanks,
Steve

 

Steve, when I got my 75 the wipers didn't work at all. Replaced the switch. Finally did a motor transplant from a friend's DJ. Cleaned and lubed all the pivots. All works well now, but I sure wouldn't trust my life to these things in a Sierra thunderstorm on a windy road. Just a plain el cheapo mechanism. That being said, from what I've found, parts are hard to find, so it's best to try to make yours work.

Couple of things I't try:
Check the straightness of those lame stamped internal activating struts. Seems to me just getting bound up one time would be enough to bend one of those flimsy things. A bent one could be the difference between working and not working.
I would hold the motor, unbolted, to the windshield while running the wipers, maybe move it around a bit to see what it is getting when unbolted and working vs. bolted and not working. Maybe all it needs is a shim or two. I know when I switched the motors on mine, one had washers, one didn't. Also the arm position on the motor shaft can be changed, might try that. Took me 3 or 4 tries to get the shaft position right when I did the switch.

Don't dispair. You're way ahead of where I started with this problem. You just gotta mess with it, and get a feel for what it wants. Converting electricity to movement using arms and levers and pivots, ya gotta love it!

 

Thanks for the tips. I did mess (a LOT) last night with the positioning of the motor pin into the actuator arm...Couldn't make it work etc. I think I will take a closer look at the arms themselves, maybe remove them completely to eliminate any 'bent rod' issues. I'll at least give that a shot before I blow $100 on a new motor that might act the same way!

Steve

 

oh, forgot one thing. I CAN'T hold the motor still while they are running. There is a LOT of torque on it and it moves around a LOT despite my best efforts to hold it in one place. This may indeed point to a strut problem I guess.

 

Re: 75 cj5 - wiper linkage removal - It's FIXED

Farfle....thanks for causing me to re-look at the linkage. I was going to remove the wiper linkage today, but while inspecting it through the few holes in the frame you can see through, I could pretty much tell it was not bent. So then I decided to re-seat the motor shaft into the pivot, insuring that it was ALL the way in this time. I'd played with different orientations of this to no avail. So I put it back together and ran the motor. To my surprise, it actually worked, however, I could tell that some part of the linkage was hitting some part of the windshield frame. Two problems. The PO had put allen head bolts into the windshield hold down clamp, and the top one was just long enough to interfere with the moving wiper linkage arm. So I took that out and cut it shorter, re-installed but I still could tell something was hitting. Turns out, one of the metal screws holding the windshield 'gasket' (between w/s frame and body) was also too long and hitting the linkage arm. I removed that, and wala....they work perfect. So now, instead of wasting $100 bucks on a new motor, I simply need to get a switch and mount it in the dash. Your advice really did help me look one more time for the SIMPLE things!!!!

thanks,

Steve