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Posted by Paul(in NY) [12.64.114.61] on Friday, September 03, 2010 at 16:29:57 :
In Reply to: thanks for saving me 300.00 posted by dan m [71.116.38.192] on Friday, September 03, 2010 at 16:06:47 :
Do a search on wipers. Over the years we have had lots of discussion. I have had samples sent to me for fit trial and also strength. The good ones (of course) would not fit in out overhead valance. Now, if a user lives in a part of the country where it does not snow, requirements are totally different then mine in the frozen wilderness.
I talked at length with a Trico Engineer. In fact they sent me a Saab Platform wiper motor for evaluation. It was great, it would fit, but it was designed for something like ( from memory) 170 degrees or arc. It was not changeable in any way to a much shorter arc.
The Trico Engineer told me that they constantly do competitive testing on other wipers. Its his feeling that NONE of the marine type wipers will cut it for winter conditions. To get the foot pounds of torque
a motor driving into a large gear box is required. The compact marine wipers use a small motor and gear box.
Now to complicate the problem. So far, all the wipers I have looked at, except the Trico Saab Platorm run the motor at 90 degrees to the gear box and the center line of the motor is NOT centerline on the output shaft of the wiper. Looking inside the Valance on Power Wagons, the windshield hinge is in the way.
Thus one wiper has to face left, the other right. With the motors not on the centerline of the output shafts, the cosmetic location of the output shaft coming thru the cab will be at different elevations. Would look terrible. I recently got a tip that West Marine has a self contained wiper with a large motor running at 90 degrees to the output shaft at the same center line. When I get south to Albany, I want to measure it and see if it would fit. If so, I am going to either buy one or try to get a sample and then install it.
And forget the wipers made by the power window company that use a motor mounted under the dash and a long flex cable to drive the wiper heads. They also have serious problems on the retention of the cable at the wiper head and also on the motor. When it slips...and it will, you have to take the motor transmission apart and retime it.
As mentioned a search on wipers will probably take a evening to read. I am still on the hunt for good wipers, but not as aggressively as I was.
Paul
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