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GoWesty Wiper Mod
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msinabottle
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2009 2:37 pm    Post subject: GoWesty Wiper Mod Reply with quote

Has anyone had a look at this kit?

http://www.gowesty.com/ec_view_details.php?id=4373&category_id=&category_parent_id=

I have most of the stuff, but what do the wavy washers add? Has anyone tried this? GoWesty has a habit of making neat little mods possible, but is this one of them?

Best!
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PDXWesty
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2009 2:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A wavy washer is just another form of lock washer. It works just as their product description says; to keep the nuts tight.
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Dogpilot
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2009 2:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Funny thing, most other windshield wipers have the wavy washer. It is available separately at most hardware stores in the isle of many drawers section.

It really isn't a bad kit price when you throw in all the plastic bits.
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hiram6
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2009 3:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

timely, as I've been fighting my wipers for the last couple of weeks. I knew I had an almost stripped beyond use wiper post on the driver's side, and I had a replacement in my cabinet that I procured from VC a few months back. Had been procrastinating on doing the repair because it's back in the bowels of the dash behind the instrument panel. I had visions of having to remove the dash to get to it, although I've seen other posts indicating it was possible to get to it just be removing the cluster.

So, over the weekend while searching for a bad ground causing my cooling fans to malfunction, I saw the mechanism back there, and proceeded to knock out that replacement. Much easier than I expected!!

So, I installed the wiper arm back in place with a few tweaks to get it in just the right sweep position. Put on the the original flat washer and nut and tightened it down. I will admit to not getting out the torque wrench, I'm not even sure the Bentley has a spec for this, but I tightened it down to where I didn't think it would slip, but also nowhere near stripping threads tight.

Imagine my irritation today when my wiper arm slipped!! So, dang it, I'm finding some wavy washers!!! And I need two caps, so I might as well order the kit. I need some other stuff anyway, might as well get lots of stuff throw in to make the shipping worthwhile.
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HeftySmurf
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PostPosted: Tue May 26, 2009 6:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I ordered me one as well, not bad for 10 bucks
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Perales
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2009 5:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wouldn't just a drop of Locktite stop the nuts from coming loose?
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BigNick0
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2009 7:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

hiram6 wrote:
timely, as I've been fighting my wipers for the last couple of weeks. I knew I had an almost stripped beyond use wiper post on the driver's side...


Is the threaded part where the nut attaches stripped? Or are you talking about the splined shaft being stripped? It's very rare for the shaft itself to actually strip, since they are harder than the material the wiper arms are made out of.

You should take the wiper arms off, and clean-out the splines on the shafts that the arms sit on. The wiper arms are a soft metal and the shafts are supposed to "bite" and cut little grooves into the arms. As soon as the shafts strip the grooves they've cut, then no amount of tightening of a nut, or washers will really do the trick.

Take the arms off, and use an exacto blade to scrape the little slivers of soft metal out of all the grooves in the shaft. Re-attach old arms and new grooves will be cut as you tighten the nuts. No more slipping wiper arms.

Goodluck.
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msinabottle
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2009 10:58 am    Post subject: Dental Pick Reply with quote

I used a dental pick to clean out all the gunk on Winston's splines--and I did use Loc-Tite. And I accidentally bumped the wiper at VW's on the Green and it shifted noticeably. Hence, my interest in this mod. The measurements for where to have the wipers 'at rest' are in the Bentley.

Would anyone know what size of wavy washer to install for those of us who just need to do that to have the complete mod?

Best!
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Dogpilot
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2009 11:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Since I believe the wiper shafts are in metric, you may come into the issue 1/4" is too small and 5/16" too big. Personally, I usually get a set of each, as they tend to be in the .30¢ range as the gas going back isn't worth it. Your Ace may stock ones in Metric, Denver being the big city and all. Out here in the sticks, electricity is still novel. I have had to drill out washers for the Westy before to fit a metric bolt, but these are spring steel so you may have bad luck drilling, you need to grind those with a Dremel and a small stone if they are too small.
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hiram6
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2009 12:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

BigNick0 wrote:
hiram6 wrote:
timely, as I've been fighting my wipers for the last couple of weeks. I knew I had an almost stripped beyond use wiper post on the driver's side...


Is the threaded part where the nut attaches stripped? Or are you talking about the splined shaft being stripped? It's very rare for the shaft itself to actually strip, since they are harder than the material the wiper arms are made out of.

You should take the wiper arms off, and clean-out the splines on the shafts that the arms sit on. The wiper arms are a soft metal and the shafts are supposed to "bite" and cut little grooves into the arms. As soon as the shafts strip the grooves they've cut, then no amount of tightening of a nut, or washers will really do the trick.

Take the arms off, and use an exacto blade to scrape the little slivers of soft metal out of all the grooves in the shaft. Re-attach old arms and new grooves will be cut as you tighten the nuts. No more slipping wiper arms.

Goodluck.


No, what had stripped was the threads where the nut tightened down. I know all about cleaning out the grooves, I have a set of dental pics in my toolbox just for that purpose. I had already tried to repair the threads with a die, but not enough good metal left.

The new part, as seen here from van cafe, has pristine threads, well worth the piece of mind.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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ddonnell
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PostPosted: Thu May 28, 2009 5:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just got the wiper caps from West Coast Metric. I think it was less than two bucks, so if you just need two, go there. Although they did charge me up the yin yang for shipping...

GoWesty's product is probably sturdier and better well made though...so I recommend GoWesty if you need all three as well as new hardware.
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msinabottle
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PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2009 3:59 pm    Post subject: Curse You, Dog Pilot! Reply with quote

Curse you, Dog Pilot!

Well, not really, James is far too nice and far too heavily armed for real cursing...

Shocked

BUT!!

That wavy washer diameter you gave was O.D! I just bought two 14mm I.D. wavy washers! AND THEY DON'T WORK!!!

Growl.

You want 15 or less mm. OUTER DIAMETER wavy washers, folks.

Best!
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RCB
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PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2009 4:33 pm    Post subject: Re: Curse You, Dog Pilot! Reply with quote

msinabottle wrote:
Curse you, Dog Pilot!

Well, not really, James is far too nice and far too heavily armed for real cursing...

Shocked

BUT!!

That wavy washer diameter you gave was O.D! I just bought two 14mm I.D. wavy washers! AND THEY DON'T WORK!!!

Growl.

You want 15 or less mm. OUTER DIAMETER wavy washers, folks.

Best!


Yeah but I bet you charge up the ying yang for shipping. Laughing
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PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2009 11:15 am    Post subject: Re: Dental Pick Reply with quote

msinabottle wrote:
I used a dental pick to clean out all the gunk on Winston's splines--and I did use Loc-Tite. !

Another tool you can use for this...I think it works better...is a jewellers file...get a good quality 3square (triangle) ...Swis or german made.. from a jewelers supply house they run about $7ea
Very nice precise teeth and a wicked sharp tip..I use a 2cut (6=fine.0-coarse)
You can recut the splines full lenght, with ths
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Robw_z
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PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2009 2:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="hiram6"][quote="BigNick0"]
hiram6 wrote:
well worth the piece of mind.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


are you sure it's worth that?

-Rob
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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2009 5:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The problem with the wipers is that the stock washer will not fit down over the splines at all, so once the wipers arms have any wear at all, you just end up tightening the washer against the shaft while putting little or no pressure against the wiper arm itself.

The answer is a thick flat washer with a big enough hole to fit over the splines. I do not know the fit of the parts in the Go Westy kit, but since it contains an added flat washer (which isn't stock, but the wavy washer is) I would assume that this additional washer must have the big hole and be thick enough to do the job.

The price looks good. Someone should buy the kit and tell us what it really does, the Go Westy description of the kit make no sense and is probably plain wrong.

If the arms are stripped out bad enough you might want to buy new arms at the same time you add the kit.
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hiram6
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PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2009 7:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="Robw_z"][quote="hiram6"]
BigNick0 wrote:
hiram6 wrote:
well worth the piece of mind.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


are you sure it's worth that?

-Rob


Rob,not sure what you're getting at. My post had completely damaged threads, beyond repair. So no matter what washer combination I used, I wasn't going to get enough grip to hold the wiper.

So, yes, it was worth it. I drove about 800 miles this weekend, in and out of thunderstorms multiple times, never had to worry for one second about my wiper losing it's place.
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1996 Mazda Miata
1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited

You can't lie around on the beach and drink rum all day.................unless you start first thing in the morning.


Last edited by hiram6 on Sun May 31, 2009 1:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
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randywebb
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PostPosted: Sun May 31, 2009 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

wrong word choice...
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hiram6
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PostPosted: Sun May 31, 2009 2:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

okay, caught it. Spell-check strikes again, in combination with my horrible typing skills
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 6:33 am    Post subject: Re: Curse You, Dog Pilot! Reply with quote

msinabottle wrote:

That wavy washer diameter you gave was O.D! I just bought two 14mm I.D. wavy washers! AND THEY DON'T WORK!!!
You want 15 or less mm. OUTER DIAMETER wavy washers, folks.

They are 6mm spring washers
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