Support for wiper control shafts broken

[clphipps79]

The support for my wiper transmission is broken off. I think this maybe the cause of my drivers wiper flying off the windshield. My first question is this an easy fix? Second, is the cowl removable or how would someone get in there to weld it back together?

wiperproblem.jpg

[David88]

Its hard to say without seeing is firsthand. I would exhaust all other options before taking th cowl off. Can you see the damage/crack/tear in the metal through the wiper pivot hole? If so, it may be possible to take the wiper arm off, drop the pivot down in the cowl and out of the way, then weld through the pivot hole to make the repair. If it came loose further in, I would even try to remove the entire wiper motor and arm transmission. That would give another larger access hole to work through to repair. For me it would be a last resort for the cowl to have to come off.

In the factory the cowl panel was installed before the windshield. It is pinch welded all across the bottom flange of the windshield opening. The glass comes out, hood comes off. You may have to take out the bolt on top of the fender and one behind the top door hinge and pull the fender top out a bit. Drill out spot welds. Fix problem. Then replace. Having said that, Ive never done it myself. These were available new on ebay but I haven't seen them for a couple years. If the job was done with the proper spot weld drill and great care is separating, your panel could possibly be saved. I don't think you would need to go this far though.

[drddan]

There is an access panel behind the wiper motor to get to the transmission. Do not have to remove cowl.

[william]

The cowl Is spot welded on as David said, As Dan said there's access behind the motor but it's somewhat limited.
There's a big nut under the wiper arm that can sometimes come lose causing problems but it's hard to see your problem from that picture.

[Axlander9289]

The sheet metal holding the drivers side wiper spindle in place on my old '92 Festiva tore and sheared beyond reasonable repair due to the nut on the wiper spindle working itself loose. My solution was removing the linkage to the drivers side wiper, reclocking the passenger side wiper arm, and installing an over sized wiper blade. It worked pretty well. I just had to lean to the right slightly when driving in the rain. Hopefully it won't come to this on your car, but at any rate this is the worst case scenario.

[Studebaker]

Could you cut out the bad torn medal? And weld in a replacement from a donor car? It might not look good but it would keep the car on the road.

[bravekozak]

Either buy a new wiper transmission like I did, or buy a used one. After you remove the two nuts from up above, it just slides out along with the wiper motor. Another possibility is buying one from Four Green. I have had a bunch of them fall apart from wear as I was taking them out. The three plastic pivot cups wear away and crack as the grease ages over the decades. That is why they fail. Good luck.

If there were a source for those plastic pivot cups, all of our wiper transmissions could be rebuilt.

[bhazard]

I had this happen on my old car. The "transmission" or linkage or whatever was fine. It was the sheet metal that the "spindle" is pressed into that was torn. I smeared a bunch of jb weld in and it lasted a couple years before it cracked again.