Mk1 wiper wheel box sources

[Terence]

Are there any good quality replacements out there?
I replaced mine with some MiniSpares a few years ago, and they have failed with very little use.
I’ve tried two sets of new arms, both fit loose, so never installed.
Just looking for some alternative sources, that have worked for others. Thanks

[Peter Laidler]

Hi Terry, I've been doing some work on wheelboxes fro two of my pals round these parts restoring/rebuilding minis. It seems that the best idea is to find a set of wheelboxes with half decent splines. Leave them in warm oil for 12 hours and even the tightest spindles should release and rotate freely. You can ignore (?) the chattered 26 or 28 TPI threads on the ally shafts by machining new very slightly undersize hex nuts. That solves that problem. Rotate the toothed drive wheel so that the toothed cable is operating against good gear-teeth too. By doing this we saved 6 out of the 8 tatty old bits of crap wheelboxes they had to start with. Many heads made light work -= or in this case, made the wheelboxes work......

[IslandBlue]

I'm guessing that the clicking/knocking noise that my wipers make is probably related to the wheelbox(es)?

Presumably having withdrawn the rack cable from the wheelbox tube the wheelboxes can be removed by loosening and removing the nut above the bezel on the scuttle? Tried this a while back but they were not for turning. Left some plus gas on them and then forgot about it until I had to use them on the way back from L2B

[Peter Laidler]

What you have encountered Island Blue is the start of the problem - so far as it seems with our recent experience (see above...) It's the dissimilar material and cheap alloy. We found that unscrewing the chrome 3/4" (?) nut is inclined to strip away some of the threaded sleeve, hence I suggested machining a couple of slightly UNDERSIZE nuts that will make best use of the remaining thread on the sleeve. It worked for us.

If the nuts have the slightest whiff of being tight then plenty of penetrating oil before you start is the order of the day. Like I said, between us we were able to save 6 of the 8 odd wheelboxes this way. Ironically, one of the tightest, that we couldn't save, was one that had been taken off a car 10 years before, nut replaced down the shaft - where it had just seized!

Annanuvverfing..... The shaft threads are 26 OR 28 TPI and when they are even slightly corroded, it's easy to mistake/miscount one from the other. Just check and double check before machining or fitting new nuts. Also, there are HEXAGONAL, 6 sided and OCTAGONAL, 8 sided nuts. So far as I can tell, the 6 or 8 sided nut is NOT indicative of the TPI

Thanks to 1071Bob for his help here too...

[Nick W]

Works minis needed more robust wheelboxes, so they fitted them from a Bedford truck or similar vehicle.. these have a U shaped wheel in them that has a bigger mated surface area. You also have to change to a 150 wiper motor wheel to make up for the difference in wheelbox wheel size.

[IslandBlue]

What you have encountered Island Blue is the start of the problem - so far as it seems with our recent experience (see above...) It's the dissimilar material and cheap alloy. We found that unscrewing the chrome 3/4" (?) nut is inclined to strip away some of the threaded sleeve, hence I suggested machining a couple of slightly UNDERSIZE nuts that will make best use of the remaining thread on the sleeve. It worked for us.

If the nuts have the slightest whiff of being tight then plenty of penetrating oil before you start is the order of the day. Like I said, between us we were able to save 6 of the 8 odd wheelboxes this way. Ironically, one of the tightest, that we couldn't save, was one that had been taken off a car 10 years before, nut replaced down the shaft - where it had just seized!

Annanuvverfing..... The shaft threads are 26 OR 28 TPI and when they are even slightly corroded, it's easy to mistake/miscount one from the other. Just check and double check before machining or fitting new nuts. Also, there are HEXAGONAL, 6 sided and OCTAGONAL, 8 sided nuts. So far as I can tell, the 6 or 8 sided nut is NOT indicative of the TPI

Thanks to 1071Bob for his help here too...

Thanks, will keep adding the penetrating oil and see where we end up!

Mini Spares make no mention of different thread count only hex or oct nuts, although the hex is Mk1 or Mk2 apparently? Not got mine to hand so can't comment on whether my June '69 car follows the "rules"

[Terence]

It’s the spline for the arm that seems so soft it just strips.

[Toby]

Works minis needed more robust wheelboxes, so they fitted them from a Bedford truck or similar vehicle.. these have a U shaped wheel in them that has a bigger mated surface area. You also have to change to a 150 wiper motor wheel to make up for the difference in wheelbox wheel size.

The part number on those wheel boxes for the 150 sweep look like 72827?

[Nick W]

Works minis needed more robust wheelboxes, so they fitted them from a Bedford truck or similar vehicle.. these have a U shaped wheel in them that has a bigger mated surface area. You also have to change to a 150 wiper motor wheel to make up for the difference in wheelbox wheel size.

The part number on those wheel boxes for the 150 sweep look like 72827?

It's the 72845A number that's for the wheel box complete

[Nick W]

Works minis needed more robust wheelboxes, so they fitted them from a Bedford truck or similar vehicle.. these have a U shaped wheel in them that has a bigger mated surface area. You also have to change to a 150 wiper motor wheel to make up for the difference in wheelbox wheel size.

The part number on those wheel boxes for the 150 sweep
look like 72827?


It's the 72845A number that's for the wheel box complete

[Toby]

Not quite sure what your previous post was supposed to be Nick?

However here's a nice under bonnet shot clearly depicting the wiper motor marked as being 150

[Nick W]

I was referring to the wiper spindle wheel box , I don't know the part number for the 150 wheel in the wiper motor..
They had to fit 150 sweep because of the larger wheelboxes
Nick

[Stopped-again]

There’s a pair of Nos 72851 wheel boxes on eBay for £79.95, sorry haven’t a clue how to post a link.

[Toby]

The part number for the 150° gear is 748796

[GraemeC]

It’s the spline for the arm that seems so soft it just strips.

I think I would drill and tap the wiper arm to allow a small pointed grub screw to bite into the spindle.

[Terence]

It’s the spline for the arm that seems so soft it just strips.

I think I would drill and tap the wiper arm to allow a small pointed grub screw to bite into the spindle.

This seems to be the best solution, a couple of guys on FB pointed it out. I will give it a go.
Thanks

[Peter Laidler]

Or couldn't you just get a couple of half decent wiper wheelboxes at Beaulieu and refurb them?

[Terence]

Or couldn't you just get a couple of half decent wiper wheelboxes at Beaulieu and refurb them?

Not an option… I live in Canada

[mrqcars]

easy fix?