Very seldom rains here, but the last 48 hours it has been constant. Drove out in the mist (1996 Dodge Dakota 3.9L 5 speed 4X4, purchased new from the dealer 288,000 thousand miles ago) to pick-up some groceries (twenty minute drive up and back).

The wipers were making a banging noise. I noticed that at the bottom stroke of the sweep they were moving clear off the windshield.

A few minutes later, the banging stopped. The wipers were now sweeping properly at the bottom of the swing, but at the top of the swing they were going over to the edge too far.

Then, a few minutes later, they had evened the upper and lower swings out and were covering the windshield perfectly, just as they should.

Then, the wipers started over-doing their sweep at the bottom of the stroke and at the top of the stroke at the same time!

Anyone know what is going on here? Thank you.

 

The nylon bushings are wearing out.

You can buy new bushings from the dealer, or the Dorman bushings; IME the Dormans don't last.

For the Dorman, it's two packages of 49440 (need 3x bushings, 2 per package) and one package of 49439 (need 1x bushing, 2 per package).

Or buy 3x 3799089 and 1x 5211015 at the dealership. Total price will be about the same.

Use some lithium or moly lube in the bushings as you assemble the arms to each other.

Be VERY careful to keep the arms turned the same way!

There's a nut on the end of the wiper motor shaft that can come off to pull the arms; there's three phillips head screws (well phillips heads on my 1988; yours may be a different head) on each of the drive shafts ("pivot" as the parts list calls them), and the whole thing can be wiggled out of the cowl (you'll need to remove the cowl cover and the seal before pulling the wiper transmission).

I'd suggest taking a picture before disassembly, and then sanding, priming, and painting the arms (all three! Pivot arm that goes to the wiper motor, and the two cross arms) before reassembling, but that's probably not necessary (I had mine powdercoated for my cousin, Justin Case.)

Reassemble turned the same way as they came apart, wriggle it back in.

Make sure the wiper motor is parked before you put the arm back on with the blades parked. It's embarrasing to have to take it all apart because the blades park up on you ...

I need to post pictures from when I rebuilt mine the first time with the Dormans (before I had to do them again this year with the Mopar parts. Live and learn.)

RwP

 

Thank you very much. I thought I was seeing things there for a minute when this first happened.

Repairs should be a snap will the detailed instructions you provided. I am very pleased to have found this forum and it's dedicated members.

 

Paid the Dodge dealer $40.66 for the four bushings (they all had a little white grease already inside them). Pressed them on with a little WD-40 for lube and a C-clamp (backed up by a socket). The bushing at the wiper motor was worn, the bushing manufactured with a thru-hole in it was missing, and the other two bushings were in place but ready to disintegrate at any moment. I did not paint the arms (the entire truck needs paint--all the clear coat is coming off in sheets).

 

Remember to cycle the wiper motor BEFORE connecting the arm, and then cycle through to make sure it parks down, not up.

BTDTGTTS; now I recommend a small mark on the driver's shaft before installing the arms, and let it cycle to make sure it goes up and parks down instead of down and parking up ...

RwP

 

Wiper arms are on. While screwing back the cowl I noticed a few things: 1) Two of the screws began to free-spin at the point where they were just beginning to get pulled in tight (no big deal). 2) The 3/16" foam tape I used to replace the factory seal along the bottom of the windshield does not seem to be doing anything because it does not touch down on anything. 3) Related to comment #2, I find there may be a screw missing on the center outside of the cowl alongside the passenger side wiper post. If there were a screw here, it would help hold the cowl down all the way in the rear/center/middle where it should be. If you look closely in photo 2, you can make out the hole where the head of a fastener (at one time) was present. In the plastic screen that lies directly under the metal cowl, there is a raised plastic "boss" of some kind with a hole in the center of it where this fastener must have passed through all the way to the body sheet metal somewhere, I am guessing.

The first photo shows the 3/8" wide and 3/16" thick foam tape I found at Home Depot. The Go-Jo hand cleaner I use to clean/renew the cowl rubber seal and the rubber on the wiper blades that contact the glass (and the dirty paper towel showing the black rubber that is removed). My Evaporust was too weak to remove the rust on the Phillips head screws, so I put a little anti-seize on the threads (I don't have a bench grinder/brush).

I anyone knows the specs on the missing screw, please let me know. Otherwise, I will just take a guess and try to stick something in there. Thank you.

Sorry, photos load to 50% then stop loading, photos finally loaded below:

 

I drilled out and put a #8 Rivnut in place for all of my bolts. It stopped the hole from rusting out any further.

RwP