FJ45 Wiper Motor Rebuild (1 Viewer)

[seth]

Hi everyone,

I took apart and refreshed the gearing in my wiper motors (1967 FJ45 LPB) last night. Got them running really nicely on the bench, then reinstalled, set the wiper arms into the correct positions, and switched them on for a moment.

To my surprise, the passenger and driver's side arms swing toward one another. I have a 1965 FJ40, and I could have sworn that its wipers swing parallel to one another.

Can you guys confirm whether or not they are supposed to swing together or in parallel? Also, given the design, there really isn't a way to reverse the spin of the motor since it's grounded to the body.

-Seth

 

[DomSmith]

They rotate the same direction but usually don’t go the same speed (on mine) so they end up on opposite sides of the windshield and come together in the middle. Unless I run them long enough and the fast one catches up to the slow one and they sweep together.

Make sense?

 

[seth]

Yeah, I understand what you are describing, and I'm thinking you are right that the movement (rotational direction) of the motors is actually the same.

But, that doesn't solve the fact that they start and stop at different ends of the swing.

I should clarify that what I think is happening is that the stop points for both motors are actually about 180º off from each other. So, the driver's wiper starts and stops from the driver's side edge of the windshield, while the passenger's starts and stops from closer to the passenger side of the windshield, pointing down at a more or less 45º angle.

 

[DomSmith]

Park function is not working. I’d tell you how to fix it but in that case mine would be fixed too. They both stop wherever they are when I turn off the switch. They’re supposed to follow through to the left side of their rotation.

 

[seth]

The gearing functions inside are actually pretty straightforward, and after a good clean-up and re-grease they work pretty well. In my experience with my FJ40, when the stop function isn't working correctly, the wipers will just keep moving even after you turn the switch off (unless they are stuck in the off position, which is a whole other issue).

In my case, I did confirm that the stop function in the gearing works properly, so maybe I just need to run them for a little bit and be extra certain that there isn't any gunk remaining in there for the passenger side arm.

Just a little exercise with the arms off?

 

[seth]

Thanks for the insight @DomSmith ! I'll check where things land next time I'm out at the shop, but I'm glad to hear that they are supposed to follow through and land on the left side. I felt like it was strange that the landing spot for the driver's wiper arm was kind of in the middle of the view...

 

[whitey45]

The only ones I have ever had work properly are a pair of nos brand new units when I restored my 45 20 years ago! They would park to the right side perfect every time! They did run at different speeds and always thought it was funny, one would park sooner than the other. Mr @pardion can elaborate!

 

[seth]

The only ones I have ever had work properly are a pair of nos brand new units when I restored my 45 20 years ago! They would park to the right side perfect every time! They did run at different speeds and always thought it was funny, one would park sooner than the other. Mr @pardion can elaborate!

Yeah, I’ve had that issue on the 40...they just like to move at slightly different rates. I’m fairly certain since the “stop” switch is mechanically activated, I can get these working properly again. Also, it might not be accurate, but I may have even lubed them up too much. Looks like they originally had a nice heavy grease to begin with. Too lubricated, and the inertia of the arm can possibly swing the cam past the stop point, starting it all over again...

 

[DomSmith]

One of the 3 wires is PARK. I think it’s the bottom one but I’ll have to check. These other guys probably know off the top of their head.

 

[seth]

One of the 3 wires is PARK. I think it’s the bottom one but I’ll have to check. These other guys probably know off the top of their head.

Top Blue/White: 12v from wiper switch
Middle white/black: Ground
Bottom blue/black: 12v from key

 

[DomSmith]

Here’s what I have from long ago:

I thought one was labeled park but obviously not.

I do recall having issues with my 1973 wipers not parking because the windshield was not grounded well.

 

[middlecalf]

Rebuilt a wiper motor today, In my personal training to be proficient at rebuilding these wiper motors I needed to take one of the worst ones and renew it. Done deal, plenty of speed, power, returns to park nicely, and quiet.
Then came the issue, when I went to pair it up with another. @Living in the Past or LITP mentioned some motors might be handed in which the park to the left or right. Well I have 18 which park one direction and 8 which park the other. They are not interchangeable.
So off to the early parts books I went and in all the books the motors were the same part # if you needed a left or right motor ordered.
Big mystery, please enlighten me with some info.

P/S do any of you need a transfer case rebuilt?

FYI - John @pardion would be a good contact.

 

[seth]

I'll pull the motors off and get some photos of the gear mechs and park activator tomorrow when I'm back out at the shop. I think other people could benefit from the reference and indication of what does what on these things...

 

[DomSmith]

I don't want to hijack this thread but here's my fix for the park position on these early wipers:

Early Wiper Motor Park Function

I decided to pull the wiper motors from the 65 SWB to see if I could get the park function to work as they currently stop wherever they are when you turn the wiper switch off. The first thing I did was pull a spare from the parts bin and remove the rubber cover. This one is in pretty good...

forum.ih8mud.com

Thanks to @seth for starting this thread to get me off my ass to fix mine!

 

[seth]

I don't want to hijack this thread but here's my fix for the park position on these early wipers:

Early Wiper Motor Park Function

I decided to pull the wiper motors from the 65 SWB to see if I could get the park function to work as they currently stop wherever they are when you turn the wiper switch off. The first thing I did was pull a spare from the parts bin and remove the rubber cover. This one is in pretty good...

forum.ih8mud.com

Thanks to @seth for starting this thread to get me off my ass to fix mine!

I'm happy to hear it!!