Dino Saga 070826 _ Wipers and Sun

Dino Saga 070826 _ Wipers and Sun

Almost September. Time to think of the rainy season. We average about 17” of rain per year. Virtually all in December, January, February and March. The rest of the year maybe an inch total. But, when it does rain, it does it all at once. Our little creek below the house has an inch of water in it most times. During, and for a day or so after a rain, it can be up to 6 ft. Most of the creek is lined with concrete with a 10 foot width . No sweat unless the heavens really let loose. Never has run over in my 18 years here. Our house is 70 feet higher so no sweat under any conditions. We start to get scattered clouds in October, a few showers in November and then it starts. 2-3 days rain, 2-3 weeks bright sun. Hard to live with!

I have reworked my wiper arms and blades every year. If the equalizers rock on the wiper arms, the blades can roll over too much. The sun gets to the rubber during the summer and the rubber gets a set after sitting in one spot for months. The blade gets too much rollover built in. Once the wiper motor starts, friction makes the rubber roll even more, the equalizers tilt and the blade supports on the equalizers hit the glass. Nice scratch in the windshield. Again. That sure is a big curved piece of glass. Nothing to do about the curve. Got to live with it.

The past cure was to put nylon strips between the wiper arm and the equalizer eliminating the play in the equalizer arm and providing a bearing surface. Worked fairly well using tails of TyRaps as the nylon material. Two pieces of small TyRap tail just fit side by side and are easier to install than one wide piece.

I pulled last year's nylon pieces at the top of the left wiper and took a look. The nylon had flowed a little and the equalizer had rocked a little. Studied things and decided that putting the nylon on the back of the arm would stiffen things up and maybe keep things stiff longer. Equalizer would be metal to metal with the arm and nylon would work on a larger radius. Picture shows the final result. Equalizer still rocks freely enough to do its job. I will keep a close eye.

Just for a belt and suspenders approach, I also slit the blade and attached a small TyRap to the blade so the TyRap gripper would hit the glass first if worst came to worst. I will let things set for the next two months and see whether things stay good. New blades go in in October. I doubt that the wipers will be ever used in anger before then.

The Zaca fire is not quite over but the impact on Santa Barbara is pretty well finished. We still get occasional small rains of ash and the sunset is a little oranger than normal but the air has cleared markedly. Saturday had a light breeze out of the West and nice little puffy clouds. Mountains were fully clear. Played around with the 28 mm setting on my camera lens and got some nice shots. Big difference compared to the 38 mm minimum on my old camera. Pool looks nice and the car looks very different when you are only 6 feet away and can get the whole thing in the frame. Clouds reflected nicely.

John
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Solly,
Virtually all Auto Supply stores carry replacement blades that fit the original wiper arms. Only the blade itself with a slim stainless support that slides into the equalizing part of the wiper arm. The equalizer is the problem for wear and for replacement. I have never found a duplicate. I just keep refurbishing my originals as required. If you have a sub, please tell us. Glad you liked the pics.
John