Air or Electric Wiper Motor

[Oonrahnjay]

  AM Equipment in Or I believe the kit is little over 600 for the electric conversion for a MCI 

Maybe somebody could do it the "Garhawk" way.  Gary went to an "auto recycler" (I once heard a mutual friend tell Gary that he spent more time in a junk yard than a '58 Buick) and bought a wiper motor off one car and the linkage off another for his RTS.  Works a treat.  I think he said that he had less than $20 in it.  Oh, yeah - he had to make a pivot post for the "second" wiper.  Maybe that was the $600 part.   

BH NC USA

[luvrbus]

I don't think anything came with air wipers made in the 21st Century

good luck

[belfert]

Modern cars don't have air or vacuum wipers anymore.  

  And your point? Airplanes still use Magnetos and vacuum powered flight instruments so they will still function after a complete electrical failure. The most common failure ive seen in vehicles is electrical, and on road trips its common to

My point is if you're choosing between a replacement air motor and a replacement electric motor I would choose electric all other things being equal.  If the electric motor requires reworking the rest of the system air may still make sense.  There has to be a good reason they don't use air or vacuum on modern vehicles.

I'm not old enough to have driven or ever been in a vehicle that had I knew didn't have electric wipers.  (One exception was an old truck that the vacuum wiper didn't work anyhow.)

If the battery or alternator fails your headlights won't work anyhow and you should stop driving.  Most all states now have laws requiring headlights when wipers are necessary.  There are a lot more people here asking how to fix or replace air wipers than asking how to fix electric wipers.

[RJ]

There are a lot more people here asking how to fix or replace air wipers than asking how to fix electric wipers.

Brian -

That's because the vast majority of coaches found in the conversion community came from the factory with Sprague air wipers, not electric.

25 > 30 years from now, people will be asking how to fix electrics, since most new highway coaches today have gone that route.

FWIW & HTH. . .

 

[robertglines1]

Unless you are unhappy with the performance  fix what you have.   Did and still doing the job in allot of buses.  Is that piece mild steel? Drill center and tap put stud in and tighten. Bob

[gus]

I love my 4107 with 2-speed electric wipers but I sure miss those 4104 air wipers with infinite speed control.

[Paladin]

My air wipers have slight leaks when turned completely to the off position so I have to nudge them just a tad to the on position, just barely and it stops though I'm not real pleased with that possible continued source of air leakage. I can hear the air hissing even with the engine running if it's not right.
I have thought of converting to electric and that's still an option though if the air wipers can be made reliable and mostly bullet proof I'd stick with them. I haven't stayed current on this topic over the years due to other more pressing matters on the bus but I seem to recall running across someones page where they ran down the process and parts needed for rebuilding an MCI switch\valve. Can't address other brands though maybe similar or same??

Maybe this could be a topic for the magazine (if that's not where I read it to begin with!)?.