Club 80-90 Forums

Hello all,
I've been trying to put our wiper spindles back together after replacing the knackered ones. However I don't seem to be able to get them back together.
The trouble is there doesn't seem to be enough thread on the spindle to allow the spacer washer and nut to go back on.

Now if I remove the spacer it fits fine


The splines are the same dimensions as the old ones. I checked them before I fitted them to the wiper linkages.
Am I missing something? Everything I am trying to fit came off the van and I just think that something is in the wrong order.

That rubber washer looks like it is too thick to me - mine didn't even have one there when I was messing with mine a couple of weeks ago. You only need around 1 to 1.5mm thickness there. (Butyl pond liner is good for making new washers for this).
Your first pic shows the shaped plastic sitting proud of the bodywork instead of flush.

I know what you mean, but they are the same as the original seals.
http://r.ebay.com/hzObXn

You have mounted them correctly then if you are using that type? ( Those are grommets rather than washers - they seal both sides at once)

have you had the whole wiper assembly out of the van? and have you compared the wheelboxes to the old ones .are the boxes secured to the bulkhead with screws as the should, cos if they are then you have length iussues
mm

metalmick8y wrote:, cos if they are then you have length iussues
mm

Sorry not being helpful but I just couldn't resist

I can hear him even now....
see here and page 8
https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.p ... 0&start=60" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
note the spindle length on the original and note the SA has the raised area behind the spindle nut moulded in and still the treads protrude, so back to you
mm

hmmm,
Problem solved I think. quite how i didn't notice the slightly different lengths of the fins on the side I don't know. I best get the dremel out

New one is on the left original on the right
and

New one on top.
I took the photos as I was comparing them. Clearly I'm not that good at comparing things....

No they look the same to me!

I'm very happy that I don't have a length issue, turns out it is a girth issue

hmm yes, but tell me, did you have the boxes secured to the bulkhead in the picky when fitted with the retaining nut

Why are the spindles not right and where were they purchased from? Just for future reference if I ever have to rip my dash out.

MM, yes the boxes were attached to the bulkhead although I did notice it was a bit of a bugger to get it all to line up, Why do you ask? do you think there might be mething else going on? I think if I take the fins down to match the old ones it will all fit

CRUZ, They are from VWheritage

i ask cos with the std uk spec front panal the boxes fit as good as flush up to the underside of the panal , so..........as yours have longer ribs then this topped it protruding fully and in so doing would have made it impossible to fully tighten the box securing screw/s without causing some alignment issues. you have now confirmed this .
as for the differing lengths i think you will find that these are the SA spec items which have the longer ribs to stand the box of the front panal (SA front panals have the pressing as opposed to the black plaggy thing we fit.
if i was the seller I would make it my biz to state this on the item description???
mm

MM, I think you are correct in all that you have stated. I didn't realise until you mentioned the Mollvagon thread that the SA front panel moulding was differen't. I notice that plastic version that I have is also not shown in the haynes manual and is obviously a later addition which they then deemed necessary to mould into the later SA's. Any idea what function this plastic piece/ additional moulding serves? Does it just add a little bit more rigidity to that wiper spinde area?
Cheers for the help all!

If you are refering to the plastic piece shown in your first pic that was because VW couldn't be arsed pressing RHD panels and used the plastic piece to re-created the raised pressed area.

Hence why the raised LHD pressed areas are still there on a RHD vans but is unused