Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi

Is it normal for wipers (in UK) to complete their sweep vertically? drove in rain for the first time at the weekend and the area of sweep, at least on the drivers side, seemed inadequate. Wiper stop just over centre leaving a lot of the drivers view still wet.

At rest wipers sit on the screen just above the rubber.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks

Maybe this will help you compare yours to theirs (they do show them in actual use):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf5x0s35gHI

So from video it show that sweep is much more effective for LHD cars!!

That or mines deffo wrong!

Wes wrote: ↑Tue Jul 29, 2025 4:32 pm So from video it show that sweep is much more effective for LHD cars!!

That or mines deffo wrong!

I guarantee that whatever yours are doing, they're more effective that Split Screen ones.. ; my wipers might be on a mid 50s car, but they originate from the 1920s....

I refurbished my entire wiper system a couple of years ago. This involved overhaul of all of the components in the system: wiper motor, rack, wheel boxes.

One of my wheel boxes was jammed solid and even though I freed it, it ran very rough which would have been too much friction for the wiper motor to cope with. I decided to buy new wheel boxes from ESM. That was the ONLY component that was changed. To my dismay, I found that the new wheel boxes changed the arc of the wipers. The wipers ended up doing a sweep that was much reduced and totally insufficient. I complained to ESM and they did take the wheel boxes back but denied there was anything wrong. I then sourced a good second hand wheel box and everything went back to the normal sweep. The reason for the altered sweep was due to a different circumference and number of teeth on the wheel box gear wheel.

The other part of the system that controls the sweep arc is the large wheel in the wiper motor. These are marked on the wheel in degrees.

So, it is possible that your wiper system has been fiddled with and either has the wrong wheel boxes, the wrong motor wheel or both!

Before assuming a component is incorrect though it would be wise to check that everything in the system is working as it should be. Often the motor is struggling to move the rack due to hardened old grease in the motor, in the rack Bundy tube and stiff wheel boxes.

Stephen

All good advice thanks.

Does anyone do a classic wiper arm but with a modern section wiper blade?

before i take anything apert first i might do the simple thing of taking arms off and rotating a spline or 2 anticlockwise.

Or just not take it out in the rain

Wes wrote: ↑Wed Jul 30, 2025 7:25 am before i take anything apert first i might do the simple thing of taking arms off and rotating a spline or 2 anticlockwise.

Or just not take it out in the rain

That's simple and it might help.

My car is 1969. My wipers park right on the rubber at the bottom of the screen and almost hit the rubber on the side of the screen when working. In other words the sweep arc is as wide as it can be.

When I had the new, incorrect, wiper wheel boxes fitted I did try to move the wipers up the screen a couple of splines. It annoyed me that I was always looking through the wipers when they were parked and it didn't make much difference to the unswept area on the driver's right (as looking forward)

Stephen

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My car is 1969. My wipers park right on the rubber at the bottom of the screen and almost hit the rubber on the side of the screen when working. In other words the sweep arc is as wide as it can be.

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something's definitely up as i get half this rubber to rubber sweep

As for clap hands there were 90° and 100° systems. As thing loosen over the years the sweep increases while traveling due to the air flow. In regards to the parallel sweep the factory apparently had a different idea as to what was beneficial for the drive. Marinas had two sets of mounting options. The LHD Marinas in the States used the holes biased to the right side of the car and I understand the RHD cars used the holes biased towards the left side. Based on that then the later Minors were in aligned the same as the RHD Marinas.

I fitted one new wheel box from ESM a couple of years ago and it was the wrong sweep, I did call them but they said no one had ever mentioned it before
I found this information and bought a second hand wheel box stamped with the number 72790A and the correct sweep was restored

viewtopic.php?t=33625

Davemate wrote: ↑Thu Jul 31, 2025 7:05 pm I fitted one new wheel box from ESM a couple of years ago and it was the wrong sweep, I did call them but they said no one had ever mentioned it before
I found this information and bought a second hand wheel box stamped with the number 72790A and the correct sweep was restored

viewtopic.php?t=33625

Ha! ESM like saying that even though I know for a fact that many people have complained and their own workshop knows full well the new wheel boxes are totally wrong. I don't know why they can't just be honest and admit it saying this is all we can supply brand new. I wrote them a detailed e-mail about it and made a forum post a few years ago and the problem had been well known before that.

Here you can see they are completely different (cover removed to show the gear wheel)

Stephen

I too have experienced this problem and over ten years ago spoke to several of the major parts suppliers. All claimed that nobody else had ever complained, but the associated workshops all confirmed that they had the same issue, so as above, it is well known.

All interesting info. I need to investigate.
Thanks