My Wipers are useless!!

[alan_thomas]

As per title. I’ve fitted NOS wiper boxes, rack seems unworn and still they have, in my opinion, too much ‘slop’
Light rain they only wipe 3/4 of the arc, raining hard they wipe the complete arc and more, slapping the screen rubber. Any snow and they stall with just a few flakes.
Added to this problem is the inability to even do one complete wipe if the screen is dry which tells me the motor has no power.

Am I just used to a modern car’s wipers? Were they sloppy and weak from new?
Does anyone have wipers that wipe the correct arc regardless of the amount of rain or lack of it, if so any tricks or alternative motor/rack setups that can be made to fit.
- Alan

[Rigid]

Ditto.
I've rotated the cable and the boxes which lessened the sweep from close to 180 degrees but the wipe action is rubbish.

[Richard G]

I have same issue. Have bought replacement motor brushes to see if that sorts it.

[jbuckl]

1970’s wipers are, when restored, 1970’s wipers.

[Lingen]

Alan.
There is still clearly something wrong somewhere. Although wipers have advanced a hell of a lot since 1970, the ones on my Stag still perform perfectly well. No "Slop" and a full wipe of the screen in both directions.. Both speeds correct as well. Triumph would not have got away with anything below the standard of the time.
From your description there is excessive wear/slack somewhere, and the motor sounds weak as well.
I expect you will get several suggestions as to what to do next. I just thought you might like to know that they will be capable of keeping your screen clear if you can find what is wrong.
Mike.

[Tdafforn]

These wipers can work very well. We drove the round Britain Reliability Run this year in my stag which meant 24 hours of wiper on action in terrible (red warning) conditions in Scotland and they were fine. From past experience with these lucas systems it is well worth servicing the motor. New brushes and a regressed can work wonders. Pulling out the cable from the wheel boxes and either straight replacing or cleaning a regreasing can really reduce the drag. Wheel boxes can need changing to reduce slop but also make sure you have the correct cog in the motor to ensure the correct throw. The stag cog is pretty unusual. Can't remember how may degrees it is, but it is written on the big cog in the motor and I am sure someone will post the correct number. With all these bits done and a bit of rainex on the screen as belt and braces they are surprisingly good.
tim

[Philip Wardle]

We have the same experience as others - after systematically refurbishing and lubricating all the parts including a new rack and wheel boxes my project car's wipers are now performing as ex-factory. A good test of whether everything is running smoothly is to measure the current consumption under running conditions, we achieved below 2 amps, the Haynes Manual says it should be 1.5 to 2 amps. Lucas Fault Diagnosis and Service Manual says anything over 4 amps indicates excessive friction. You do need to spray the windscreen with water when performing the test.

We also found that the cover of our new wheelboxes needed to be carefully "adjusted" to get a good compromise between backlash and interference. I believe there may also be variations between wheel boxes which you need to be aware off if buying replacements, make sure you are buying Stag ones. However, if it hasn't already been done, you can rotate the cog on the old one by half a turn to bring the unworn half into play with the rack.

If you motor is original I guess it will have the right cog part no 519532 in it, this should be 130 degrees. Both new ones and old ones are advertised by Rimmers, I seem to remember new ones were pretty much unavailable for a while but apparently back on sale.

[alan_thomas]

Thanks everyone knowing they could be better means it’s worth striving for an improvement.
Good tips Philip on checking the motor current and ‘adjustment’ of the wheel boxes although I remember changing the wheel boxes required some athletic ability!
will also check the voltage at the motor to see if I’m getting a large voltage drop when running.

[Rigid]

Is there a recommended source of wiper blades that work - ie flexible enough to follow the contours of the screen but still with enough rubber to scrape the water off?

[sujitroy]

I took my stag out for a club drive and it rained. I normally don't drive in the rain but it did. I have the same wiper blade on my car since I bought my Stag in 1999.it still wipes well. this is compared to my wipers on my mini van which I have to change at least once a year.