Wiper Problems 110 TD5

So my wipers packed in a while ago with one wheel box completely seized.

New parts finally arrived a few days ago and I've got new wheel boxes and cable all nicely installed and greased up. Tried the wipers without the wipers attached and all sounds lovely and smooth. Put one wiper on to try the sweep and the cable keeps jumping off the wheel. I can put light pressure on the wiper blade and hold it in place while the cable clicks over the wheel.

So what's wrong here? Are there different sized teeth and cables available? I've ordered parts for 2004 110 TD5.

I would add that the cable is a Bearmach item and the wheel boxes are Britpart. Yeah, I know their reputation but they weren't listed as Britpart items by the seller.

Did you strip down the old wheel boxes to find out which bit fell over?

As stated, one wheel box seized up. Corrosion in the spindle.

I have followed the various guides on wipers on this very forum and I have reassembled it all correctly.

It seems that Landy wipers haven't changed in all the years they've been making them but I was just wondering if I had dodgy parts or if in fact the spec of cables and wheel boxes have changed a little bit and the parts I have don't match.

It would seem that there is too much play between the cog in the wheel box and the cable. It might just be that the wheel box is poorly made with too much space between the casing and the cog.

Just seeking confirmation that either:

1. I have crap parts or,

2. There have been spec changes and I have mixed and matched the wrong parts.

I did this job on my TD5 last April. As far as I'm aware they're all supposed to be the same size. The wiper spindles have a bit that clamps together and holds the tubes and also locates the rack (well, a bit of wire rope with a spiral thing wrapped round it) against the teeth of the gear wheel on the spindle. it's worth loosening off again and re-settling everything so the bits of tube go where they're supposed to and the rack is definitely engaging with the teeth.

The other thing that can go wrong is that the gear wheel can slip on the spindle itself. My solution was to take 'em out so I could rest them against something solid and go round the join between the spindle and the gear wheel with a hammer and punch to rough them up a bit so they'd grip. Seems to have worked so far.

If the rack is genuinely sitting too far away from the gear wheel you could always bend the casing slightly to bring it nearer. Once again, out of the vehicle and a few taps with the hammer should do it, they're only sheet metal pressings after all.

Well, I'm going to have to take it all apart again anyway so I'll assemble everything again off the car so I can properly see what's going on. One of my old wheel boxes is OK so might end up putting that back on temorarily so I at least have wipe on the drivers side until I get this sorted properly.

DefenderPilot said:

So what's wrong here? Are there different sized teeth and cables available? .

Click to expand...

I understand that there are, but if you have specified those true to your model / make / year then all should be OK

As above, is there on the wheel box cover plate an area where you can move it in toward the cable to stop the cable bouncing out of cog experience.

Make sure too that the wheel boxes are nipping up really tight the tubes that carry the drive cable.

I've taken one of the new wiper boxes back out and compared it with my good old one. The problem is now quite apparent. Take a look at the picture below. The wiper box on the left is the new Britpart one. You can see that the bottom lip of the backing plate doesn't curl around the cable like the one on the right. It's allowing the cable to bow out through the gap. So the problem is crappy parts.

Utterly p'd off with this whole thing now. Took everything apart again. Made some technical adjustments to the wheel boxes and refitted everything. Wipers seemed OK at first but left them on for a while just to be sure. Every so often there'd be a click and one wiper would be out of adjustment. Left to themselves it got worse and worse until one wiper was sweeping from vertically up the windscreen to right out over the A pillar.

These wheel boxes are just sh!t. It's not like I can just pop down to some local parts place and get some more either, given my location. I'll have to order another pair and pay through the nose for carriage. Problem is, most of the ones I can find on eBay are unbranded, like the ones I bought. No doubt they are all Britpart and nobody wants to admit that fact.

So can anyone recommend where I get some good ones?

Had the same problem replacing wheel boxes on my 109. ****epart was little better than the original worn ones and spent ages fettling.

Bought bearmach which were better but still slipped from time to time. What sorted it was replacing the drive cable/spring

I have bought a new cable as part of the general overhaul.

I got mine (genuine LR) from Keith Gotts, were about £20 each if I remember correctly. I always try and replace items that can cause more hassle if you have to rework the job with genuine / OEM items as sometimes trying to save a few quid can cost hours of extra work.

I've got a 2002 110 and had a similar problems for a while until one wiper gave up totally.

I bought a replacement wheel box off ebay, spent ages replacing it as so much dash has to come out - worked for about a week and failed again

Second time around I bought genuine wiper boxes (x2), a new cable, new wiper arms and blades. Greased everything again before putting it together. Everything was new apart from the wiper motor.

I found you can get the wiper boxes out from the bulkhead with some gentle persuasion from a crow bar - meant less dash had to come out!!

So far so good - hope you manage to get it sorted, I know how frustrating replacing the wipers are just for them to fail again!

Hi mate the part numbers for your wheel boxes are DKU500010 these fit all defenders from 2002 onwards. This superseeds another previous part number! Before this there were different versions available so I am told. On td5 models the wiper drive cable clamps into the wheel boxes at the bottom whereas on earlier models the wheel boxes clamp on at the top!

Your drive cable is part number DLE000010.

I did this job on my 2004 td5 two weeks ago and all the bits cost me about £85 for genuine landrover a bit pricey but Its really not worth fighting with the dashboard more times than you have too!

Thanks guys. Have managed to source a pair of Bearmach items which will hopefully do the trick. Waiting for them to arrive...

Why is the Britpart stuff ****e?

I assume "Britpart" actually means "Chinesepart" and the UK has nothing to do with it?

It seems that the parts have often had, erm, poor reviews for years. Why don't they improve the parts....in this day and age companies cannot generally afford to carry on selling cr*p.

Well, the Britpart seat base costs £40+VAT and seems similar quality to the original LR one.

The price from Land Rover for a techno cloth seat base is a monstrous £235+ VAT.

My Bearmach wiper boxes arrived today and it's instantly apparent that the quality is much better. Unfortunately I'm starting 7 consecutive night shifts in a couple of hours so won't have much time to get everything done. Will report back...

Britpart stuff seems to be a bit hit and miss with the quality. When I overhauled the brakes and steering all the stuff I used was Britpart and that was fine. I'm really surprised that something with such an obvious design flaw as these wiper boxes are still being sold.

That's my point.

With the high prices being charged for many OE parts, Britpart would make a fortune if they got their act together.