Wiper Motor

[Fordum]

Well, the wiper motor died on my F250. In a rainstorm, of course.It acted like the switch, but after pulling the switch and direct jumping the high speed connectors, it was the motor.

Stupid cheap part. It was only 24 years old......

I grabbed a short stepladder and started in this afternoon. I've only got 12.50/33s, but with my bad hip I can't crawl around like I used to.

Unlike my old '79, which had the motor under the dash, this one is on the firewall under the hood.
Three screws are all that holds it on...........
Except for one stupid metal clip under the cowling that holds on the linkage.
I started pulling screws out of the cowling cover. Used the ladder to reach some of them on top-center. One right in the middle was just out of reach.

Climbed up on the bumper to take those out along the edge under the hood.
I actually had to use the ladder to get up on the bumper. I used to put one foot up and hop up.
Even did a running leap up one time.

Moved the ladder over to the other side. By this time the hip and leg were really complaining, and I was considering taking a break. I got the antenna mount off, and all the top screws on that side. That just left that one screw in the middle.

I leaned way over, the ladder flew out from under me, and I did a face plant on the cowling.
Bounced back and fell on my bad hip on hard ground.
I lay there for a second, with the wind knocked out of me, and my hip screaming.

Then I got mad. Grabbed the top of a tire and pulled myself up. Got to my feet and just dared my hip to give way.
It didn't.
Grabbed the ladder up, slammed it back in place and squirreled back up it.

Got that screw out, started pulling the cowling cover off. Its really a two or three man process.
You have to lift and work it out from both sides. Plus the hood has to be lowered slightly, then raised and maybe lowered again before its loose.

But I got it off. Then started trying to get that idiotic clip off. Its a strange one.
Double locks onto the end of the shaft. Plus its way down in the cowling space.
It finally popped off, and flew off into the cowling. It did not have much of anywhere to go, so I figured I could find it.

One of the three screws holding the motor on, has a stud sticking out of the head with a large ground wire terminal attached held on by a nut.

Of course, when I tried to take the nut off, the whole bolt turned. And there was not enough room to get behind the terminal and hold the bolt head with an end wrench.
So, I just wound the wire up until I got the bolt far enough out to hold it with vice grips and take the nut off.

Got the new motor on, greased and installed the linkage and started looking for that clip.
Could not find it.
Finally, picked up all the parts, got the cover where I could drive, and rode into town. I was sure I had seen one of those clips in a parts house.

No luck.
By this time, it was getting dark. I tried the motor and it works. Tomorrow I am going to grab one of my super magnets and see if I can find the clip. There is a lot of dirt and trash in that area and it is probably under some of it.

If not, I will use a washer and an "E" clip and call it good.I have found some sources on the net for those clips, and might check with the Ford dealer.
They have used those clips for a lot of things for a long time, so they may have some in stock.
But the E ring will work in the mean time. I can work that cover back on without putting the screws back in, and the hood will hold it.

Tomorrow, I hope to finish that, and put my new Warn hubs on. I intend to post a pic of the new motor, and the hubs before I install them so folks thinking about buying them can see what they look like.

Meanwhile, just for fun, here is a pic of what that clip looks like from one of the sites that sells them.

 

[blazer74]

Sounds normal, if it weren't for bad luck I'd have none at all.

 

[brian wafer]

one word ford !!!

 

[Fordum]

Staggered out this morning, pulled the cover back off. Figured I would look one more time before I dug out the supermagnet.
There was one little pile of leaves and dirt right in the center that had fossilized into a lump. I grabbed it out, and let it trickle out of my fingers.

And there was the clip. No idea why I could not see it. Got it back on, and started putting the screws back on.
Leg and hip were really sore and stiff from yesterday. Got a little bruising from the fall, but they all limbered up some as I forced them.

Got it all put back together, and only had 3 screws left over......Good times!
Actually they held a stupid piece of rubber on that had hardened and crumbled when I was getting the cover off.
So, now it can rain down between the cowling and the hood. Big Whoop.

Got lined up to try to replace the hub. I was worried, because some setups require you to replace the axle nuts.
The Warn site said I did not on mine, but Summit said I did.

Pulled the old hub out. Big ring keeper and one spreader keeper on the axle. Laid it on the bumper and examined it.
The locking piece slides on a sleeve which is part of the other half of the lock. For some strange reason there is a ring type keeper on the end of that sleeve in a groove.
Not sure what it keeps on except for a small shim that seems to control how deep the locking piece engages.
That keeper had partially slipped out of the groove and was causing the locking piece to bind up on it and not be able to go deep enough to engage the other half.

Took the locking ring out, and it seems to work fine.
Don't care, since I have new hubs.

Put the guts of the Warn in the housing. Went in until just as the outside splines engaged the hub splines and then it stuck.
Pulled it out and rotated it to another spot, same thing. Tapped gently on it and it started sliding in.
I'm thinking it was a slight burr on one part or the other.

Got it all the way in, put in the new ring keeper that came with it. Put two screws in the part and pulled it out against the keeper.
Pushed it back and forth, had about 1/8 inch of play between the keeper and the spindle nuts.
Perfect, meant I did not need new spindle nuts.
Got the new spreader keeper on the axle.
Of course the axle wanted to keep sliding back, but I had a little pick that I jammed it with.
Kept me from having to crawl behind the tire and put something behind the axle U-joint.

Put the cover on, first screw did not want to get a bite. Took it out and looked, the screw was not going all the way through the hole in the cover.

Tapped it, and it fell through. Another burr, I guess. The rest of the screws slid right in.
It did not use the same size Allen wrench the originals did. This one was about two sizes smaller.
7/64, I think. I will double check tomorrow and make sure. Might be metric, but that one fit really well.

Cross tightened them until it was snug and then went around. It took several trips until I quit getting slack when I came back around to the first one.

The book calls for a fairly small amount of torque. Not surprising, the socket in the head is small, and the screws are not too large either.
I am going to back them out tomorrow and put some Never Seeze on the threads just in case.
I could see them easily snapping off or rounding out the heads in a couple of years.

Tried to engage it, it got really tight fast. They really should enlarge the slot you put your fingers in, and it would not hurt to chamfer the edges either.
I would have put more torque on it, but it hurt to try to turn it hard.

That wavy spring they use is really stiff, and I figured that was what was holding me back. Undoubtedly the teeth were not lined up.

I could not get it to go quite all the way to lock. Then, it did not want to go back to unlock.
Used some paper towels to cushion the edges and got it unlocked again. Then grabbed it and twisted it hard to lock.

I did not have a jack handy, so instead of jacking it up and spinning the tire like they suggested, I went over and locked the old hub on the other side.
Started driving and reached down and pulled the 205 into 4wd. The gears did not grind, so I figured they were engaged. Made a partial turn, stopped and tried to shift out of 4wd.

The gears were bound, so that meant both axles were engaged. Backed up until I could shift out.
Got out and the hub turned very easily out of gear. Tried it back into engage, and it was very smooth and easy.

So far, I like it. I will probably replace the other side tomorrow if I get a chance. Will take the pics of the hub before I put it in too.

 

[Fordum]

second hub

Finally got around to installing the second hub this afternoon. I should wait until tomorrow to write it up, because I just realized I need to take two or three more pics.

Anyway, this not a full install thread, just a way for people to see what the premium Warn hubs look like and what went on during my install.

The original hubs that came on my Ford, were the standard Warns. I did not realize that until I had changed one.
Since one had failed to engage, I bought the new ones. The last time I had looked at the hubs, I thought they were in pretty good shape.

The engagement teeth looked good, so I cleaned them up and put them back in.
I now realize that they were worn almost completely out. The teeth are in good shape.
But, in this style hub, there is a wear point between the shaft mounted part, and the hub part.
On my old truck, the hubs worked like I think the Yukons do. When you disengaged the hub, the inside block that runs on the hub splines was pushed back behind the axle shaft part, and they did not touch.

On these, the part on the axle is inside the hub part, and the hub spins around it.
The contact point is greased, and there is not a lot of load, but eventually it can wear and let the engagement sleeve get out of alignment.

On both my old hubs, the inside piece is just flopping around in there. I will take a pic tomorrow to show.

Meanwhile, this pic is of the back side of my new hub. The inside spline is where the axle goes, and that part is held in by a spiral ring.
As you can see, there is brass bushing between the inside part and the part that engages the hub.
This cuts down on friction and wear. If my old hubs had that, they are long gone.
Large gap there now.



This pic is of the wavy spring that engages the hub when you turn the knob. Its in the engaged position.
When you start to compress that spring, it tends to bind on its self and get very strong very quickly.
Unlike a normal coil, which gets stronger as you compress it, this one seems to reach max in just a very short distance.



These last two, are the front of the hub guts, and the cap.





BTW, the old hub used a 9/64 Allen wrench, and the new hubs use a 7/64.

I am going to post the last writeup tomorrow with a couple of pics of the old hubs showing the wear, and a tool I used to get the large ring out.

 

[Fordum]

OK, unless someone has questions, this should wind this one up.
Both hubs are on and working, windshield wiper works, all is well.

This first pic is of the back side of the old hub. Compare it to the same view of the new hub.
Note the large gap all the way around the center part.

We are comparing apples and oranges to a certain extant, since one is the premium and one the standard Warn.
But the new one is a snug fit with a bushing, and the old one is about a 3/16 gap.
This lets the teeth not engage every time.


If you are in Lowes, and see one of these Stanley hook and pick sets, grab it if you think you might have to do a Warn hub.



This is the part number if you go looking.



And this is the bad boy that makes getting that stupid locking ring out almost easy.

The secret to it, is to lay the pick flat in the groove gap with the point aimed at one end of the ring.
Push it against the end of the ring until it almost starts to slide.

Then, give it an upward twist. Do not try to pull up on the ring, just twist the point upward.
It seems to just lift the end right up and out.

It was so easy on the first one, I forgot how much of a pain they can be. But, on the second, I was reminded.
I used the pick to clean out the socket head screws of mud and dirt before trying to get them loose.

And in doing so, I bent the tip and did not realize it. After trying for a while to get the ring out, I happened to see the bend.
You can see it in the picture.
I straightened it, and the ring came right out.