Search Results for: wiper motor

I had to buy and deliver a trio of toilets to the father-in-law’s house on Saturday in preparation for a plumber to come in and swap them all out, and I knew we wouldn’t be able to fit three toilets, two adults and a dog in a Honda, so I loaded them in the Scout and drove it down. I haven’t had her out on the road much in the last month, but she did great going down and back.

On the way back home I was thinking about how happy I was to have a clear windshield, and for some reason I decided to try the wipers even though I haven’t put the arms and blades back on. To my shock, the knobs began spinning; some how, some way, the wiper system started working again. I haven’t done anything new. I haven’t futzed with any of the wiring or mechanical systems. Clearly there’s a short somewhere, but it appears to have fixed itself temporarily.

I woke up early Sunday morning to a text from Brian, containing a Marketplace link to this green pickup sitting at a used car lot in New Jersey. It was advertised as a non-running truck with 4WD and no title, but the price was reasonable, so I figured I’d check it out. Within an hour I’d heard back from the seller and had an address to visit, about three hours away from home. I gassed up the Honda, loaded up on coffee, and was on the road by 9:15. I wound up retracing some of my route to go see the blue pickup, as this one wasn’t far away from there.

As usual, the pictures online didn’t reveal how rough this truck was; I knew within a couple of minutes that I wouldn’t be making an offer on it. The rust around the edges of the front fenders, hood, and doors was pretty bad.

There were sections that were rusted all the way through—on the eyebrows over the headlights, along the bottom lip of the hood, and crucially along the windshield cowl—that I knew would take a lot more than just some replacement sheet metal.

The bed was completely filled with leaves that had decomposed to dirt. The tailgate was rusted through in a couple of places. I talked to the seller for a little bit and took a look under the hood; he said the motor was locked. I thanked him for his time and turned the car around for home.

On the way back I saw a service station with a line of XJ Cherokees parked outside, but it was a familiar grille at the very end that caught my eye. An extremely saggy Scout II sat filled with spare Jeep parts and other scrap metal.

The driver’s door was ajar; clearly the body was crumbling and out of alignment. I looked it over for a few minutes and continued on my way.

Date posted: February 12, 2023 | Filed under Trip Logs | 1 Comment »

2022 didn’t go quite as we planned, but I got a remarkable number of things on the list accomplished. The replacement windshield is installed and makes a world of difference. the turn signal is fixed. The spare heater core is finished. And the heater valve is working! With that in mind, here’s the list of goals for 2023, in order of importance and realistic accomplishment:

  • Fix the goddamn wipers. (2019I still don’t know what the deal is with the wipers or why the motor works but the switch doesn’t, but I’ve now got a third switch to swap in and see if I can get things to work behind the dashboard. If it’s not that, there has to be a melted wire somewhere that I’ll have to chase down in the rat’s nest back there. I can’t spend another year dealing with this dumb situation. Fixed? They work again. I put the wiper arms back on the stubs and I’m leaving it alone.
  • Move the rearview mirror up the A pillar. I keep knocking into it when I open the door. it needs to move up and out of the way. This is just drilling and tapping new holes, and sealing up the old ones.
  • Rotate the tires. (2022) This is pretty self-explanatory, and should be easy once I get a decent floor jack.
  • Fix the battery tray. (2021) Super Scout Specialists has new trays in stock, and I’d like to get rid of the ghetto bungee cord I’ve been using for 11 years. Done 9.15! Happy to have the bungee cords gone.
  • Replace the wing window seals and spring hinge. My wing windows are leaky and loose. The gaskets are dry and brittle, and the spring hinges inside the door are both broken. I need to replace the rubber and re-weld the springs so that the windows will stabilize.
  • Swap the gas tanks. I have the original steel tank Peer Pressure came with, and I’ve heard from several places that poly tanks will never seal at the sender properly. I’m inclined to believe this after eight years of suffering through gas fumes and leaks. Having looked at the inside of the tank and cleaned up the outside, there’s a new sender mounted and ready to go. The next step is grounding the tank and checking the wiring before it goes onto the truck, and then actually swapping it out.
  • Get the spare engine on a proper engine stand. The problem isn’t the stand, but how I can lift the engine up onto it. My garage is in no shape to support a chain hoist or any kind of overhead block and tackle, so I’ll have to borrow an engine hoist from somewhere for a 15-minute operation.
  • Buy a Scout Shed. (2022) I spent a bunch of time this fall emptying out my garage attic and moving big bulky parts up there; a lot of my space issues have since been solved. So this might actually move to the completed list…
Date posted: January 23, 2023 | Filed under To-Do List | 2 Comments »

DSCF9028

In 2021, I did a lot of things I wasn’t planning on, but needed to get done, like rebuilding the front bearings, replacing the front brakes, installing a cool bumper and then adding fog lights. Okay, maybe the bumper and fog lights didn’t need to happen, but it sure looks better. Reviewing the T0-Do list from 2021, there are some big things I thought I might be able to accomplish and some that were blue-sky goals; there will be some things that carry over to next year. And I’ve got some new goals for 2022, in order of importance and realistic accomplishment:

  • Refurbish the heater core. I’ve got a used box ready to go; it needs to be sandblasted and painted. Then I’ve got to check the original motor and either rewire it or buy a new motor. Done!
  • Replace the windshield. (2016) I pulled a good clear windshield from a Scout this summer, cleaned it up and made it ready to put in. I’ll need to order a new windshield gasket from Super Scouts, do some practice runs on the spare frames I’ve got, and then take a deep breath before I remove the old glass. Done!
  • Fix the goddamn wipers. (2019) I still don’t know what the deal is with the wipers or why the motor works but the switch doesn’t, but I’ve now got a third switch to swap in and see if I can get things to work behind the dashboard. If it’s not that, there has to be a melted wire somewhere that I’ll have to chase down in the rat’s nest back there.
  • Fix the turn signal cam on the steering wheel. I’m 3/4 of the way into the teardown on my spare wheel, and it all seems to make sense so far. Sure would be nice to have functional cancelling turn signals. Done!
  • Rotate the tires. This is pretty self-explanatory, and should be easy once I get a decent floor jack. One thing I’d like to do while I have the tires off is measure the backspacing on the spare tire to see if it’s anywhere near the aftermarket wheels I’m running on the truck. This way I’ll know if I can use the spare on the front wheels without rubbing.
  • Pull the spacer on the starter. I’ve come to find out the spacer in between my starter and the engine block is meant for automatic transmissions, so it needs to come out. I’m a pro at swapping starters at this point, so this should be a 30-minute fix, tops. Humorously, in going through my parts bins this week, I found a second spacer. Done 10/30! Took all of about ten minutes, but I already had her up on the stands for exhaust repairs.
  • Fix the battery tray. (2021) Super Scout Specialists has new trays in stock, and I’d like to get rid of the ghetto bungee cord I’ve been using for 11 years.
  • Swap the gas tanks. I have the original steel tank Peer Pressure came with, and I’ve heard from several places that poly tanks will never seal at the sender properly. I’m inclined to believe this after eight years of suffering through gas fumes and leaks. The plan is to build a quick cradle/turntable out of wood, mount the tank on that, and dump some gravel inside. A half an hour of turning it like a cement mixer should remove any rust or scale inside, and then I can test it for leaks. When that’s done I’ll spray it with undercoating, test the sender, and put it in. I’m going to dig out the original evaporator linkage I stored away to aid in venting it properly. But the first thing I have to do is get the existing sender off the tank; it’s on there tight and not coming off.
  • Get the spare engine on a proper engine stand. The problem isn’t the stand, but how I can lift the engine up onto it. My garage is in no shape to support a chain hoist or any kind of overhead block and tackle, so I’ll have to borrow an engine hoist from somewhere for a 15-minute operation.
  • Buy a Scout Shed. My garage is pretty full, and I spend a lot of time reorganizing stuff just to move around in there. I’ve been considering a premade shed to store all of the parts I’ve got squirreled away, which would free up a lot of space in there. I’m earning some scratch on the side working on the schoolbus, and if I’m careful I could pay for this with a couple of weekends’ work.
Date posted: January 2, 2022 | Filed under To-Do List | 3 Comments »

I got back from Nationals with shitty front brakes, a leaky gas tank, and a bunch of new parts to play with. First, I made a couple of calls and got brake work under control.

The gas vent line was probably the easiest win, so I sourced a brass barb fitting from Lowe’s and 4′ of 3/8″ gas line from NAPA with a new plastic filter. Swapping out the brass plug for the barb was easy, and the gas line went on quickly. I brought the line up into the driver’s rear fender, gaining access through the cover behind the spare tire, and lopped off about 1′ of the hose. Capping that with the filter, I zip-tied it to the other vent hose to keep it upright and buttoned everything up. Hopefully the tank will vent a bit smoother now, at least until I can sort out the larger issue with the sender.

At Nats, Brian and I brainstormed a way to add snap barrels to the back of the tailgate so that I can snap the back of the soft top closed, and after I sourced the small hardware (6/32″ stainless screws and nylock nuts) I drilled into the aftermarket aluminum diamond plate. There’s a divot in the top of the tailgate that the nuts tuck into neatly without touching the sheet metal; it wasn’t until Brian pointed that out that I realized the solution was that simple. D’oh! (Now I have to get the zippers fixed).

That left the windshield wiper issue as the next big problem, which I was not looking forward to diagnosing. I also needed to re-align the wiper arms on the windshield, and a little research revealed they are simple to remove and easy to reinstall. Taking the cowl cover off confirmed my suspicion that the linkage from the motor to the wiper arm had come loose—this has happened before.

A trip to the Ace Hardware provided a quintet of e-clips in the right size, and I pulled the motor out completely to reattach the arm. Years ago I’d pulled it out and was never able to get it back in completely, so this time I focused on figuring out the secret trick of tucking the end of the bracket around the mount under the cowl. It’s now snugged tight with two bolts in the correct position. Then I had to fight to re-attach the first arm to the second linkage, which is always a treat.

With that done, I started diagnosing the wipers themselves; there is no response in the motor when I turn the switch at all. I have a 12-volt bench tester, so while the motor was out I confirmed that it’s not smoked; it revolved freely. A voltage tester hooked to the ground wire shows there’s no power coming through from the switch on the dash, so now I’m trying to pull the switch out and source a replacement.

While I was out on errands I stopped at the Harbor Freight to pick up a cheap stepped drill bit that went wider than 1″ diameter. The new glove box lockset from Binder Boneyard is a plastic barrel that’s much wider than the stock metal unit, so I had to open up the factory hole and grind off the two threaded studs on the backside of the glove box door. (Fun fact: I realized I have four spare glovebox doors when I went looking for another part in my bins).

This took all of about 15 minutes. Then I had to adjust the crappy metal tab I’d made to replace the catch on the inside of the glove box; apparently my dash is from a particularly boozy Friday shift in Fort Wayne, and does not feature the same loop catch found in all of the other Scout II’s I’ve ever seen or parted out. Once that was done and I had it fastened in the right place, the door closes snug to the dashboard and now features a lock! I’d like it a little more if it was made out of metal but for the price it can’t be beat, and anything that’s truly valuable is going to get locked into the Tuffy console or the ammo box in back anyway.

The final thing I did was to drill a single hole in the grille for my new (used) INTERNATIONAL badge, add some good 3M double-sided auto tape, and mount it to the sheetmetal in the proper position. She looks like a whole new truck!

Date posted: August 23, 2021 | Filed under Repairs | Leave a Comment »

My records say I put 925 miles on the Scout, which means it’s actually around 1187 if I do the math, but Google figures it’s about 1050. I used roughly 77.6 gallons of gas this time, which puts my mileage somewhere around 13.5 mpg—which seems a little odd. I got about 12 on the last trip, and our route was almost exactly the same.

Some various reflections:

  • My front brakes are scraping. I sourced a new local mechanic who can handle brake work quickly through another Scout guy in Ellicott City, and ordered rotors and pads today. I’m going to take the Scout camping in a week and a half, so I want them working right, and I don’t have time to futz with it myself.
  • This was the most rain I’ve ever driven my Scout in. We were wet for 3/4 of the trip home, but everything worked as it should have. My wipers crapped out on the second half of the way back, so I’ll have to pull the cowl and replace the motor with a known good unit. While I’m in there I have to adjust the linkage to align correctly on the window.
  • The gas tank is still a pain in my ass. I was dribbling gas after every fill up. This will require several fixes: I have to buy some gas-rated hose and rig up an overflow vent with a filter at the end to vent the extra air. Jim, one of the mechanics at Super Scouts, showed me how to do this on his pretty red Travelall. Then I’ll have to drop the tank and properly seal up the sender so that it doesn’t escape out the top. I said I was going to do this two years ago.
  • In the fall when the soft top comes off I need to find a sail repair service in Annapolis and see if they can sew my zippers back on. The right one gave way on Saturday night when I was closing up the truck, so now both of them are shot.
  • Brian helped me think of a way to install snap barrels on the aluminum sheet overlaying the tailgate so that I can snap down the soft top; this might actually work…
Date posted: August 17, 2021 | Filed under Repairs, Trip Logs | 2 Comments »

Thanks Mr. Clean!

Update: Saturday morning, Evil Mr. Clean and I took a brief jaunt out to Crazy Ray’s in Mt. Airy to see if we could find a radiator for Heavy D. What we found was much better pickings than the Jessup location, which is geared more towards later-model cars. Mt. Airy has late-model stock too, but they have rows of 50’s-era iron and some trucks I never thought I’d see at Jessup. We found a 200-series truck of the same vintage as his and had the radiator and shroud out in ten easy minutes. I pulled the washer bottle for the motor mounted underneath. Behind that was an 800 with a V8 in pretty poor shape, from which I swiped the speedo dial. I wanted to stop and pull two more, from a 50’s Chevy pickup and a flat-fendered Willys Jeep, but we were pressed for time. (I did grab a replacement dome light for the Saturn, which made me happy).

IMG_4306

We headed back to the house to swap out my starter with his spare. It took a little doing; the top of the starter doesn’t allow for a thick box-head wrench to get a bite on the bolt. Once we’d wriggled it loose, the whole unit came off pretty quickly and we had the replacement bolted in in minutes. After taking some time to clean the electrical leads with some sandpaper and patch up a bare patch of copper with some tape, we reconnected the whole unit and turned the key. Success!

After lunch and a parking lot comparison of the two trucks, EMC left and I had a little time to spare. I tested out the new wiper bottle I’d scored and then used some spare hoses and fittings from the Wheaton Scout to connect my windshield washer nozzles. Success!

Date posted: April 9, 2011 | Filed under Progress | 3 Comments »

Today was a Scout day, even if I don’t have my Scout back yet.

My mechanic got back to me on Friday and asked for a little more time to work on her, which means Monday or Tuesday. The fact that I missed a week of almost perfect convertible weather has me bummed, but the payoff will be worth it when it’s back in the driveway and running well.

In the meantime, plans to recover the local Scout went off without much of a hitch at all. After Finn and I got some doughnuts down the street, Mr. Scout met us at the house and helped blow up her new inflatable pool while we waited for Alan and his friend to make it up with the trailer. After some jockeying around the narrow streets of the neighborhood, they got the tow rig pointed in the right direction and we headed over to the seller’s house.

Where’s the red? It’s all green

At first, the Scout didn’t want to start. Gas down the carb made it fire up fine but there was no gas getting through the lines from the tank. After a quick trip to the gas station for a couple of gallons, the seller blew out the line and then the filter himself (can you say “motivated buyer?”) and we tried a few tests with everything disconnected. Once we made sure the fuel pump was working—squirting gas alarmingly all over the engine—we hooked everything back up and tried it again. It turned out that I was closest to the driver’s seat, so I fired it up and it finally stayed running, and everyone cleared a path out for me to crawl down the driveway and line up behind the trailer. This time I got up onto the trailer without doing any damage, put it in 4lo and shut everything down.

We ratcheted it down tight, closed the doors up good, and money exchanged hands. All was good!

On the trailer and ready to roll

The seller was very happy to have it out of his driveway, as was his wife.

Mr. Scout’s new steering wheel

Mr. Scout has a new steering wheel for his truck, which makes him happy. We weren’t able to pull it while we were there, so he and Alan will do the swap through the mail, most likely.

Brand-new poly tank and skidplate

Meanwhile, I continued hoarding parts for Peer Pressure. The items above are the reason I organized the whole deal in the first place: a brand-new poly gas tank, unused, with a matching skidplate. I hosed the dust off the tank and looked it over; everything appears perfect. Score!

Clean passenger fender

The next item is a passenger’s fender in excellent shape; this apparently came off a Terra donor rig. It’s in better shape than the fender I’ve already got, which makes me happy.

Side note: I’d say roughly 2/3 of the spare parts I have are or originally were Tahitian Red when they came from the factory—coincidence, or something more sinister? You decide.

Clean tailgate

I also took home a clean tailgate from the same rig, which is in excellent shape. It even sports a factory “Scout II” sticker.

Clean Terra doors

From the same donor rig, there are two clean doors, which are in far better shape than the two spares I have. They still have Terra glass in them, which will get sold or scrapped. The rest of the chrome looks like it’s in excellent shape. There’s some slight rust on the underside of the interior, and some bubbles under the trim on the drivers door, but it’s definitely repairable.

AC Compressor

Alan also brought me some gifts from the last set of scrapped vehicles we picked up: the first is a clean IH-serialed compressor for my AC setup.

Holley 2300

The next is a used Holley 2300 carb, which will be my rebuild testbed. I don’t have an air cleaner housing to fit it, but I’m hoping the ThermoQuad air cleaner might.

Update: The serial number off the carb doesn’t match anything from a standard Light Line application, which means it’s not an exact match. I’ll have to find out exactly what I’ve got so that I can order the right replacement kit.

Holley 2300 with adapter plate

Following that is a Holley 2100 with a spreadbore adapter mounted to the bottom. I’m not as excited about this one, but I’m going to do some reading to learn more about it.

Crappy windshield

Finally, I took the crappier of the two windshields. I figure the wiper linkage and motor might be worthwhile to have, but the rest is definitely scrap metal.

Date posted: June 20, 2010 | Filed under Friends, Purchasing, Trip Logs | 2 Comments »

My carb rebuild kit arrived from the Carburetor Factory on Friday, so I’ve been spending some quality time poring over the Thermoquad service manuals I found online before doing anything rash like opening the box or tearing down the carb itself. The kit I got is a Walker 15711C which corresponds to the engine year, size, and model I have. I need to pick up some carb cleaner and other assorted products if I’m going to do this myself; I also left a message with my backup mechanic to see if he’d be able to help and for how much. Edit: He called back this morning, and I may be on for an appointment this coming weekend.

Meanwhile, I parked Peer Pressure out in the driveway while I was hauling garden tools and other stuff around the yard. My original plan was to drive her over to the Home Depot in the afternoon to browse the doorknob selection, but plans shifted and Finn accompanied me in the CR-V instead, and rainclouds meant it was back in the garage by 2:30. During the rainstorm I decided to try both of the spare windshield motors I have on hand to see if either of them worked. I plugged them both into the bulkhead connector after verifying that the one I have installed works, but neither one made a sound. I know the wiring on my original unit (the one I’ve been dragging around since 2002) is frayed and the green wire has come loose, so that didn’t surprise me. Doing some research on motors, I found A couple of good threads that deal with the motors and their wiring, another with some info about motor replacements (apparently a 94-01 Cherokee motor will work just as well), and one containing interesting info about testing (putting it on a battery charger at 2 amps).

Anyhow, I was disassembling one on the workbench downstairs, when the doorbell rang. It turned out to be a guy who lives in the neighborhood and who owns an orange Scout I’ve noticed on occasion, hidden behind the shrubs lining his driveway. He told me he was going to sell his truck, and knew I had a Scout, and wanted to know if I’d be interested in what he had?

Well, I said, would you mind if I took a look?

adrift in the weeds

It looked better from the road than from up close, unfortunately. It’s been sitting in his driveway for a couple of years, but he claimed it will run with a jumpstart. The body was toast. The front fenders and tub are pretty far gone. The hood looked to be in decent shape. I couldn’t tell how the top looked from the inside because the inserts were still in place, and I didn’t stop to examine the doglegs or crawl under to see how the bottom of the tub looked (the right rear tire was flat).

However, it’s got a 4-speed and 44’s (3.54 gears according to the lineset). It came with highback buckets, a sport steering wheel, green tanbark interior, and white spoke wheels. And a quick review of the contents of his garage revealed:
A second set of inner fenders (I’d say fair to poor shape, but repairable).
A stored set of Traveler doors in fair to good shape.
A skid plate, looks to be in decent shape
A stored tailgate in very good shape
A stored passenger fender in very good shape (from what I could see; it was up in the rafters)
An unused poly gas tank
A stored windshield in excellent shape
Another stored windshield in fair shape (what looked to be surface rust by the mount points)
And a bunch of other smaller stuff that I can’t remember right now.

The price for what he has is very reasonable, but the problem is where to put this thing, how to part it out quickly, and how to have the carcass hauled away without blocking everything else in the driveway. I think it would fetch decent money for the spare the tailgate, transmission, axles, and doors, and possibly (over time, of course), pay for itself, minus the parts I’d like to keep.

I put the word out with the local crew to see if anyone needs anything, and checked in with Mr. Scout about the steering wheel; I’m waiting to hear back from everyone to see if it’s worth the time and trouble to pick up the whole thing, or make him an offer he can’t refuse on the stuff I’m most interested in. We’ll see.

Date posted: June 7, 2010 | Filed under Part Numbers, Purchasing | Leave a Comment »

All parts listed are for an International 345 V-8.

Dayco belts:
Power Steering pump 15525 (To the crank pulley only)
Alternator (2) 15610
A/C 17530
Smog Pump 15390
NAPA
(2) 15610
(1) 15525
(1) 17530

Engine gaskets:
According to my Fel-Pro catalog, to get a full set of gaskets you order both of the following: HS 7905 PT and CS 7905-1. This is supposed to be all the gaskets for a complete engine overhaul.

Door lock cylinders
Strattec number 607822
Ignition lock (with keys)
LockWorks LC14260
purchased at Oreilly’s Auto Parts for $12.99

Door Glass to Regulator Clip
Muncy Corporation 162210 RI

Door to Window seals, inner and outer:
10-053X is the inner sweep
10-152X is the outer piece.
19-063F is the clip that you squeeze in to each.
10-382X is an alternative outer piece that doesn’t have the stainless at the top.
[via]

Inner front Diff seal for a Dana 44:
CR~ 13165
National And Temkin ~5131
Napa~45719

Dash gauge light sockets
CARQUEST S-503A available on RockAuto

Lightbulbs:
These are Sylvania #’s so should be universal:
High & low beam headlamp
H6024
H6024ST Silverstar High Performance Lighting: The Whiter and Brighter Halogen
H6024XV XtraVision Halogen Upgrade: 3x brighter; 2x the life
H6024CB Cool Blue Halogen Upgrade: White Hot; Super Cool; 100% Street Legal

Parking light, Front turn signal, Rear turn signal, Taillight, Stoplight
1157
1157LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp

License plate
293

Back up light
199

Front sidemarker
194
194LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp

Instrument-general
1445
194
194LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp available on RockAuto
211-2

Hi-beam indicator
194
194LL Long Life Upgrade: Up to twice the life of the standard lamp

Carburetor:
Holley 2300 l/n 7448

Spark Plugs: [link]
Accel. . .437/ (shorties = 437S)
AC. . .R44S
Old Autolite. . .ARF52B/ARF42B
New Autolite. . .85 (platinum = AP85)
Bosch. . .WR8F/WR8FC
Champion. . .RJ11Y/RJ12Y/RJ12YC (” . . .” has pretty much been singled out as worthless in IH application)
Motorcraft. . .AR42/AS52C
ND. . .W16PR-U
NGK. . .BPR5S/XR4/XR45/XR5
Prestolite. . .14R42

Wiper Blades:
Napa classic blade # 60-1233 is a direct replacement for scout II 12″ blade. For 11″ blades substitute the 12 for 11 and you get napa # 60-1133.
Anco 31-13 – requires drilling the pivot hole

Wiper Fluid Motor:
NAPA #BK 6651564
ANCO #6401
Trico Superpump 11-509

Heater Control Valve:
Four Seasons 74628
Everco/Heater Control Valve (Plastic, Black)

Date posted: June 26, 2009 | Filed under | 2 Comments »