Hey Guys,
I was talking to Dan at Silver Eagle the other day, and He told me of a good deal on a kit they have to change the wipers over to electric on my 5. It seems as the kit has everything involved except the labor...lol... Have any of you changed your wiper motors over and whats involved??? This kit is less than $500.00. Does that seem like a fair price for the arms. blades, motors, washer bottle, and controls? I want to get your opinions before I jump into this.
Thanks, ...Kentucky Steve .............
If you are a fabricator or DIY in metal working...you can get 2 used tandem wiper motor unit from each old large Thomas or Superior or Wayne school bus body in salvage yard. Bell-crank may need to drill to relocate the length of stroke hole. In Florida, many school bus being converted to orange picker's goat. So I have gotten 3 sets (pair) for free if you remove them yourself.
Keep in mind, all US cars that are equips with large wipers are single motor unit. So the motor units are powerful enough to power one bus's wiper but come without the tandem mounting bracket. You could mount car type motor in place of air if the tandem bearing are good.
About which is better for all-around performances of either air or vacuum or electric. I think if we have a vote on this....you will find electric is the number one choice.
And no more compound of the..hiss...hiss... hissss...hiss... hissss...hiss...noise.
FWIW
Sojourn for Christ, Jerry
Steve I purchased mine from Prevost through IBP and just for the motors they were $599.00. The arms alone are about $100.00 each.
Fred Hobe sells a kit for an MCI, don't know how difficult it would be to modify for an Eagle. I think he gets $350 for his kit. Jack
When I looked at the options on this I decided that being retired with no time schedual that I would just not drive in the rain ;D Works for me!!!
hi ky steve
removed air wipers from my '89 gmc rts. replaced with electric from 2002 chrysler van. big wipers, individual motors and controls, two spray units, etc.
am very pleased with results. work great and are almost hidden when not in use.
the task was a tremendous amount of fabrication work and, even tho' the parts came from salvage yard, the dollar expense was considerable. if you are interested in converting to automobile type electric wipers, give me a whistle and we'll go over everything in detail.
however, if you are satisfied with the 'hanging' bus type wipers and, only want to convert them to electric, then $500 is certainly a fair price for a dyi kit.
gary t'berry
'89 rts 102 40er
Steve, I have 20.00 in mine plus my time. 2 motors from a Gruman bread type truck. Tom Y
Steve, if it is a bolt on kit go for it I paid $1500 for mine at AIM with the motors ,arms,delay switch and blades.Eagles are not easy to build a wiper setup for but if anyone can it's you
Well ... I made my own elec wipers. I use a single motor with a bellcrank and draglink from one wiper to the other. The motor I used was out a OTR truck and haven't had any problem with them in over 20K miles. There seem to be very little load on the motor, even with the long wiper blades .... a lot less than you would think.
Ron
I paid 68,000 for mine! They came on the bus! :)
BS
HISS HISS or 100 more gallons to go another 800 miles I think I'll travel and listen to the hiss hiss ::)
Quote from: kysteve on July 12, 2008, 09:08:50 PM
Hey Guys,
I was talking to Dan at Silver Eagle the other day, and He told me of a good deal on a kit they have to change the wipers over to electric on my 5. It seems as the kit has everything involved except the labor...lol... Have any of you changed your wiper motors over and whats involved??? This kit is less than $500.00. Does that seem like a fair price for the arms. blades, motors, washer bottle, and controls? I want to get your opinions before I jump into this.
Thanks, ...Kentucky Steve .............
Is that per side or for both sides? Jack
Thanks for all the view points there guys,
Jack I am not 100% that it is both sides but I will double check that tomorrow. If I remember right, Dan said that included both motors so for now I'm saying that is for both sides. After reading all the responses I have to say that the price is really reasonable. That has got to be at least half what Eagle has in his. I am not sure that they have intermitten on them all so. Will update you tomorrow.
Eagle, I think my dash has collected more dust in my garage than it did in yours...lol.... :D Deb an I will hopefully get back up to your side of the road soon.
Jack,
Just talked with Dan and yes that is Both motors, wiring harness, arms, blades. controls, and the washer bottle. All for $454.95. From what I see on this thread that's a deal and a half and that's the way I think I will convert mine. I am not sure what the controls look like but, if I don't like the looks of them when I lay out my cockpit I will integrate a different style into the dash. Hope this helps any of you guys that are doing the same as I. I will post an update on my blog spot when I receive them and start to install them.
Thanks again all for your help here......
............Kentucky Steve..........
Steve, that is a great price I paid 3 times the amount 5 years ago.Dan does have some good prices compared to Jefferson I bought my Eagle smart wheel from him for less than half the price from others
Quote from: jjrbus on July 13, 2008, 07:23:20 AM
When I looked at the options on this I decided that being retired with no time schedual that I would just not drive in the rain ;D Works for me!!!
Yeah Jim. Great concept. Depending on when your bus was last washed, your 'rain-avoidance' program may be risky behaviour. I've been rained on every time the bus is clean.
I've got the sorry air-push wipers (relatively sorry) and have replaced the drivers side with a rebuilt unit. The rebuilt unit would stall about every minute or two, and this went on for two seasons...real PITA. It rained on us almost the whole return trip from Arcadia...and I'm having to park and turn back on the &^%$# wiper motor for 600 miles. I really don't like air motors! ;)
This summer, it has started working correctly. The original pax side air motor has always worked flawlessly...
I'd go with electric, and will...one day.
Regarding the delay feature, even if the motors don't have a delay, it can be added. The module can be bought aftermarket or removed from a pickup or any large American vehicle. You'll need a wiring diagram for the model unit you use if from a donor vehicle.
KY, $500 bucks for both sides with new arms is a deal! Go for it!
JR
Good info there JR, thanks. One of my concerns is to lessen the chance of air line leaks and since the air wipers seem to be a problem area there, I want to take the time to eliminate that now.
Luvrbus, I have talked to Dan about the smart wheel also and would not order mine until I got all my welding done. I know me and I would have had one of those oh sh** moments while grinding and throwing sparks to the steering column that I just "had" to see mounted in the bus....lol... So I wait and wait and wait .....till I get the welding done. Getting close now though. Has your wheel got the wiper controls integrated into it by any chance???
....Thanks Guys....... Kentucky Steve.......
Steve you are good at posting pictures at your site, will these electric windshield wipers fit a lowly Prevost, and ok, ok I will ask, what is a Eagle smart wheel!......Steve I was at your site the other day I wish I worked as fast as you do, you are looking good!
Pat, a smart wheel is a steering wheel that has all the controls in the center of the wheel. If you ever look into getting one make sure to get the new version. Seems as the first version they had problems with the contacts corroding or something and did an alteration to fix it. It has been awhile for me now so I cant remember exactly what controls are in the center of the wheel. Luvrbus could fill us in here. Tilt telescopic column to boot.
I have the rustbullet on the steel in the rear on the passenger side now and well, its just 8) now. The closer I get to being done the faster I move to get the steel done. ;D ;D Looks like things are going pretty dang fast up your way too. Looking good up there Pat. I am sure we both know that winters coming ;)
Thanks .........Kentucky Steve.......
P.s. Not sure about the wipers fitting your Prevost. If you call Dan in parts at Silvereaglebus I am sure you guys can figure something out. On the other side though, I am pretty sure you could modifiy them to work.
Pat,
Check this out for the smart wheel
http://www.vipwheels.com/PDF%20FILES/OWNERSMANUAL.pdf
Its not just for Eagles
......Kentucky Steve......
Does anyone know where to get parts for those Air-push motors. The air inlet fitting on ours is broke. I haven't been able to locate a wholesaler for the parts and a replacement motor from International Bus Parts was over $300. We'll use super glue first.
Don and Cary
GMC4107
Neoplan AN340
check these guys (http://www.marinepartsunlimited.com/) for air wiper repairs - if they're Trico/Folberth anyway .... check local truck repair places for parts/reman units
Bill
Can't imagine why anyone would want to remove those great, trouble free air wipers??
It sounds to me as if your air connections to the air motor are reversed. One is sir supply and one is exhaust. The problem is that the tubes or hoses are not marked and are often reversed.
When this happens the wipers do all kinds of weird things-like have only two speeds, fast and stop.
When properly connected the wipers have infinite speeds from barely moving to as fast as you want.
From all the posts here it appears to me that going to electrics requires a bunch of bucks and a lot of free time.
For this you get more electrical problems. Electric wipers always pick heavy rain times to blow a fuse or lose the ground connection.
Steve,
I will be looking for your update pics of the electric wipers on your webpage. I'm interested in doing this myself, oneday. Price sure is appealing. Course it doesn't rain too much here in Texas but when it does it's a t**d floater! ;)
Paul
The psheee, psheee, of air wipers is all part of being a bus for me. They are a lot cheaper to fix than change to electric. If I wanted electric wipers, I'd buy a Winnebago! My old bus wouldn't be as much of a bus without the air wipers.
Having said that, I respect anything anybody does to their own bus.
JC