View single post by Tom Bradley
 Posted: 05-22-2014 12:10 am
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Tom Bradley

 

Joined: 07-15-2013
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 Funny the small things that catch me in getting this thing back to snuff. As everyone knows, it never rains in California. But we do have sprinklers. While I was out, my windshield got sprayed and I turned on the wipers to clean it off. Nothing happened. Which was just as well, because when I got back home I found that the rubber wiper blades had turned to rock during the years in the garage. Scraping these across the windshield probably would not have been very good for the glass.

Removing the wiper arms and spraying a bit of WD-40 on the mechanism got things moving again. Then it was out to the store to get new wiper blades. At the first store the clerk looked in horror at the bayonet fitting on the wiper arm and stuttered that they only had blades for wiper arms with the U-shaped end. (The store actually has good stuff, but has copied Home Depot's approach of hiring clueless minimum wage help).

The second store I know has knowledgeable workers, but they were busy, so I went back to look at the wiper blades myself. The back of the Trico brand package showed the types of wiper arms it fitted, which included the bayonet end on my JH, so that is what I got. When I installed them I found that they have a cleverly-designed clip that fits three different types of arms. My guess is that other brands do the same sort of thing, but it is hard to tell unless they show you. (I checked the Bosch wipers on my other car and they do not seem to have a fitting that would fit the bayonet-type wiper arm. Bummer. I like that brand).

The sprayer for the windshield washer fluid also was not working. That also only took some WD-40 and loosening up the electric motor to get it working. But I just bet the rubber parts of the fluid pump are getting old, so I need to make a note to myself to look around for a replacement.

As usual, one job leads to another. With the washer fluid bottle out, I could see that the (bare steel!) mounting bracket was pretty rusty. So that came out for de-rusting and painting. It should be ready to go back in this weekend.