Wiper Woes

[andyshane]

Fleetwood, Beaver, Dutch Star. The common thread is, wiper blades gone wild.

My left arm slipped taking delivery of my 2019 Dutch Star; I patted myself on the back for cleaning out the splines, applying Loctite, torquing down the nuts (with a 5-minute re-torque of course) and programming a pretrip torque check for every departure. That has sustained us for two years.

Well, in heavy rains on I-40 the ol' girl let loose again; just like all three of our rigs, the left blade. Then, adding insult to injury, the Smartwheel OFF button was rendered inop. 

Knowing the diabolical ways of modern technology, I dashed to the rear of the coach in driving rain and killed the chassis battery. That did the trick, and my runaway blade that was busily scuffing the front of our DSDP halted its destructive ways.

Gaffney is two hours further along our route; however, we're mindful that Freightliner is already booking appointments for Autumn 2068...  

Does anyone have a suggestion?

[sstgermain]

The only thing I can think of is drill it and get a roller pin at a hardware store or try epoxying it . The glue is only temporary though

Edited September 20, 2021 by sstgermain

[andyshane]

11 hours ago, sstgermain said:

The only thing I can think of is drill it and get a roller pin at a hardware store or try epoxying it . The glue is only temporary though

Thanks. We mulled it over originally in one of the Newmar forums, that's where the High Strength LocTite idea came from. The epoxy would achieve the same thing.

Several folks had said, "It it toast, replace the arm," and the rest of us were off and running with solutions. 

'Turns out, both ideas had some validity: Anything short of replacement will work, but temporarily. I was fortunate to get another 20 hours' operation out of the arm. 

After a bunch of reading, the manufacturers say that anytime an arm is removed it must be replaced. 

Still, owners will be well-served to employ something that can later be scraped out of the capstan tines to restore use, temporarily.

But, that's only half of our problem. The Freightliner module has locked out the OFF signal, and I'm still trying to unravel that one. 

[dickandlois]

On 9/21/2021 at 6:31 AM, andyshane said:

But, that's only half of our problem. The Freightliner module has locked out the OFF signal, and I'm still trying to unravel that one. 

Andy, Do You have any information regarding the module Freightliner used? 

Is it manufactured by Smart Wheel..

Rich.

[andyshane]

On 9/26/2021 at 1:08 AM, dickandlois said:

Andy, Do You have any information regarding the module Freightliner used? 

Is it manufactured by Smart Wheel..

Rich.

 

Sorry, they did not mention it, nor is it on the work order.

Freightliner at Gaffney (Jayson) reviewed the problem. He said my wiper motor contacts were bad, reset the blades to their "normal position." 

Indeed, that is exactly what my delivery photo shows, before I noticed that the left blade had migrated up about 10 degrees, and I removed it and returned it to the "factory" parking stance. After that, we enjoyed about 30 hrs' operation before the arm broke loose in heavy rain. Mind you, that is with pre-trip torque checks!

"The controls and everything up to the plug are ours," said Jayson. "After that, it's Newmar. You'll have to see them about a new motor." He left the old one unplugged.

It was a win, being at Freightliner, despite leaving after three days with inop wipers:  my VIN had finally popped up on their radar for the dashboard lights recall, he'd done that. 

So, I dutifully called Newmar, and their parts department sent a motor to my destination at the low, low price of only $540. Having just eaten a new $1,900 fridge due to their latching system inducing a freon leak, it seemed a cheap outcome.

An easy install, and I sprayed down the windshield, held my breath and triggered the intermittent wiper switch.

The blades swept upward and outboard, and tangled on the way back down.

Two hours and countless adjustments later, the best I could achieve with the left linkage arm minimized is the left arm parked at a 20 degree incline. Pre-park overshoot is minimized by shortening the linkage arm; lessening the incline even the slightest amount results in collision. 

Does anyone have a service manual for timing these things? Diesel Equipment became Wiper Technologies and there is a maintenance-manual desert, as far as I can tell. Even rummaging around through other brands' service instructions yields not a single thing about adjusting the linkage arms to time opposing wipers. A Newgle search yielded blade application charts and arm-torquing instructions, as useful as the proverbial motorcycle ashtray.

We're continuing on the second half of our 3K mile trip looking a little ridiculous  -- our No Time For Sergeants wiper arm --  but at least with functioning wipers. Any documentation for this system would be deeply appreciated.

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by andyshane

[rayin]

Contact Rome Truck Parts and ask for help timing your wipers. None of the wiper parts are made by Newmar or Freightliner. They are off-the-shelf HDT or bus parts.

[manholt]

I have had to use smaller length blades before.

[andyshane]

On 9/29/2021 at 10:01 PM, manholt said:

I have had to use smaller length blades before.

You know, that might be good general advice for motorhomers.  Using shorter blades might be like adding to the Load Range of our tires: a more robust system with less chance of load-induced failure. 

Several good folks have ridden to the rescue, I'll share:

• Sean Miller At Global Products (the parent company of Wiper Technology) gave what might be the most concise guidance: You will need to remove the arms/blades and the crank arm from the motor output shaft. Make sure the motor is in the park position and reinstall the crank arm @ 3:00 looking at the system (Pointing Directly to the Driver's side). Once the crank arm has be reinstalled, run the system to make sure the crank atm stops at the 3:00 position. Once confirmed, reinstall the arms and blades to the proper position...Torque to 75 ft. lbs. You should be good to go after these changes.   (Freightliner says some call for 90 ft lbs. Re-torquing after a 30-minute wait is also recommended)
• Kristin and Doris at Rome Truck Parts have access to technical information, and Rome sells components of the system.  Rome, like AM Equipment, has some technical documents online.
• Richard Marvin at AM Equipment volunteered a great assortment of engineering and tech data.  Best to visit the main page and select the  Technical Library tab.

OCTOBER 4th UPDATE:    The money shot here is, set the MOTOR crank arm to 3 o'clock for proper synchronization, not the spline crank arms.  Tighten the motor spline clamp (13mm nut), then install arms to park position. Linkage can subsequently be adjusted to control sweep-size. Torque each spline to 75 ft lbs with a follow-on re-torque after 30 minutes. ALL THREE spine torques should be a pre-trip check. Using an arm after it has been removed once is a risky gamble. Even if you scratch out grooves in the female arm attach point and clean out the spline grooves.   Characteristically, an old arm might function fine for many hours' use; then, a sudden gust-rain surge coupling happens, and you've got a lower-nose wiper, an arm wrapped down the side, or a "dangler" hanging off the washer fluid tube (we've had each).
 

Edited October 4, 2021 by andyshane
Update