We just purchased a 1998 Foretravel and have a recall for windshield wiper nut. Has anyone else experienced this and if so, is it a big job?
Summary: VEHICLE DESCRIPTION: CLASS A MOTOR HOMES. DURING ICY CONDITIONS, THE WINDSHIELD WIPER BLADES COULD STICK TO THE WINDSHIELD WHEN THE SYSTEM IS TURNED ON CAUSING THE MOTOR SHAFT TO SPIN ON THE DRIVE ARM IF THE PIVOT NUT IS NOT PROPERLY TORQUED.
Consequence: LOSS OF VISIBILITY COULD OCCUR, INCREASING THE RISK OF A CRASH.
Remedy:
DEALERS WILL INSPECT THE TORQUE OF THE PIVOT NUT ON THE DRIVE AND DRIVE ARM.
This was booked as 30 minutes of labor when I had my '99 in for service at MOT last month.
Chris
I replaced mine last year. I live in rain country and so far so good. I ordered the part from foretravel.
if you remove the plastic air vents on the dash and then the vinyl top of the dash you will see an access hole in the
plywood just to the right of center. the nut is brass and it is self tapping.
foretravel could not give me the required torque, so I just torqued it to what I thought was reasonable. the job took
about an hour.
I am not an expert on windshield wipers, but with the stress on this mechanism it seems to me that this design is destined for failure, especially if you are dealing with sleet or snow.
Twenty years ago I was on a crewboat headed out to my anchored Chevron tanker in pretty rough weather. I noticed that every time the boat took green water the windshield cleared up right away. The water just ran off! The skipper of that crewboat told me that he used "RainX".
I've been using RainX as my windshield washer fluid for a long time now, myself. It saves on wiper wear because a lot of the time you don't even have to turn the wipers on. The rain beads up, aggregates with larger drops, and runs right off. Especially at speeds over about 40mph.
Nice safety solution, too. If your wiper blades fail then you will be able to at least see where you're going. But if your windshield is iced over I highly recommend that you clear it with either a scraper or the defroster before you move the wiper blades. Those long blade arms will put a big strain on the rest of the mechanism.
Craig
I use Rain X too. Never need the wipers... I put on a coat before I leave every time... It lasts the whole trip and I reapply again when I get home.