My '63 Triumph Herald 1200 has a problem with the wipers. They don’t move. I haven’t been up to ‘visit’ the car in a while, but the last time I did I could hear the motor running. My friend started the car the other day, and he said the blades seemed to ‘twitch’, so the motor must have been running. I’m not sure, but I think the way the wipers work is with a cog and a worm gear. When I got the car the wipers would run through about half of their arcs. Now, as I said, they just ‘twitch’. I assume, knowing very little about automotive repairs, that one or both of the gears that move the wiper arms are stripped.
Questions:
[ul][li]The Herald was the precursor to the Spitfire. Will a Spitfire wiper part fit/work on the Herald? [/li]What specific part would I need to make the repair (assuming I’ve diagnosed the problem correctly)? The cog seems to be available for the GT6, but not the worm gear.[/ul]
On some of my old cars, there was a long bar connector between the wiper motor and the wiper. When the motor was working (turning), the bar moved the wipers in a back and forth motion. Once, the bar became detached from the wiper and I had to reattach it making the wiper move again.
I’m looking at an old Roadster Factory parts catalog for Triumphs. The wipers are cable operated; the motor turns a worm gear that works on a gear that also serves as the bellcrank.
The text says “Locate the Lucas parts no. on your old wiper before ordering parts for it. If you order a new motor, the parts numbers are interchangeable.” If motors are interchangeable for all years of Spitfires, then I don’t see why they wouldn’t interchange for Heralds as well (as Rick said.)
Do both wipers twitch at the same time and about the same distance? If so, then I would guess that something is worn out at the motor, either the eye on the wiper cable, the motor linkage, or (my money is on this) the pin on the wiper gear.
It looks like both the Herald and MkI-MkIII have mounting studs in the same location, though the later Spitfire motor may not. No worries though; the motor just needs to be held securely in place. All of the force acts on the cable and sheath.
I have a 1500 in the backyard, but my kids in the bath. I’ll take a look later if you want.
