Excessive friction in wiper guide rack tube

[MorrisGoa]

Hi,

My Morris(1098cc, 4 door saloon) uses a Lucas DR3A single speed wiper motor. The wiper wheelboxes along with the guide rack tube have been removed for cleaning and lubrication. Now the grased wheelboxes rotate freely.

The spiral cable has been removed, cleaned and oiled. When the wiper guide rack tube is held with one hand and the spiral cable is pulled and pushed, it's noisy and moves with great effort.

It seems that the problem is with the first segment (motor to passenger side wheelbox) of this tube. This tube has an L shaped bend by design. Although not easily visible, the tube feels wavy(miniature bends).

This tube was cleaned with water, a thin cable and finally with compressed air.

1. I'm assuming that this tube is made of aluminium, so there is no rust on the inner side. Is that a correct assumption?

2. Should the spiral cable be lubricated with grease or oil(at present) ? Is the whitish Lithium Multipurpose grease best or black bearings one? Any other suggested lubrication. (The temperature range in my area is from 18C to 39C).

3. If it's the wavy tube that's the problem, is there a way of straightening it?

Many thanks.

[simmitc]

Feed the cable in from one end until it starts to bind. Mark how far the cable got and then look that distance along the tube for signs of damage. It could be that the tube has been damaged during removal/storage - link for a dent or a kink. The tube should be in a gentle curve rather than a very tight bend. The rack should be lubricated and pretty much any grease should be fine. It's never going to be effortless to move back and forth, but it should not be binding.

[bmcecosse]

It should be grease - and easy to pull back and forth. I have one 'for sale' at the moment (and I'm surprised no-one has snapped it up) - and it moves easily by hand. Dribble some oil down the wheelbox spindles - may help.

[MorrisGoa]

Thanks simmitc & bmcecosse.

Your method to locate the tube's problematic kink was excellent. A few taps from a mallet improved the movement. Grease did a far better job than oil.

All that's left now is to fit it back.

[MorrisGoa]

Hi,

The wiper cable is still binding. It's only this section(pics attached) of the guide rack that's the problem. There is better movement with greasing, but with some resistance i.e. by holding it in the hand. The wiper motor refuses to turn(i.e. it slips) with this section fitted.

Using a mallet tends to flatten the rack/tube.

What techniques and tools can we use to remove these kinks?

A YouTube link, etc. for such a technique would be helpful.

Many thanks.

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[mogbob]

If you are wanting to retain the original tubing then fill the tubes with " soft play sand " i.e. small grains. On the straight parts you can " roll " the tube between a flat surface and a small but wide wooden off cut ( floorboard width ? ) with moderate pressure.
The curved parts are more difficult. If you have a brake pipe bender, with the different size pipe options , you could use that
very gently. Otherwise you could use the flat section method with an old paint tin or plastic soil pipe as a former. Secure the tin or pipe to a workmate type bench, slowly work the pipe back and forth with a smaller piece of wood off cut. Remove sand and regrease when you are happy with the work.
Bob

[IslipMinor]

The wiper motor refuses to turn(i.e. it slips)

The rack should move by hand reasonably easily, and if so the motor will run properly. I don't understand how the wiper motor can 'slip'. What exactly is slipping?

The tube is not aluminium, it is made from 'Bundy' tube, which is a double-walled low carbon steel/copper tube. Steel on the outside and copper inside. It's the same material that the original brake pipes were made from, just a bit bigger diameter.