matt18603

OK, Im new to the forum, and I love it by the way. I worked at a Toyota dealership for 5 years, during that time, the FJ cruiser came out. I went on an all day off-road testing with Toyota. At that point, I fell in love with Toyota and how awesome their product really is. I also fell in love with the FJ.

This brings me to now, I have a 1992 Toyota P/U with ONLY 223k on it. Its a 22re so I know its only getting broke in. I recently replaced the alternator with a load boss 170A. Wire up grade, the whole 9. I do have my body work to do which is actually the cab corners (its a J truck , so not much rust at ALL). I have my replacement panels already for the warm weather. But, an idea occurred to me today. Why cant I replace the windshield wipers completely, with a 3 wiper set up like the FJ?

It would only be for the ooooh and ahhhh factor, and it would be more work than really what its worth. But wouldnt it be cool? Give me your thoughts please!

By the way, Im new here and looked around to see if this was discussed already, I didnt find anything. So if it is, Im sorry.

yotasavg

My windshield wipers are one of my least favorite things about these tucks. The fastest setting is slow compared to other cars. I have been considering swaping mine out for some faster lexus ones since I'm planning on buying a donor car for a v8 swap too. I didn't realize the FJ has three front wipers, but that's very interesting.

matt18603

I know, I had a 94 4runner prior to this, and it was the same thing, slow slow slow wipers. The FJ had a shorter windshield as well, so, clearly the height of the blades would be an issue. But they were FAST and worked VERY well.
Being that youll remove your engine, youll be able to crawl right in and have a lot of room to work on them. A lot of newer wipers are electric motor driven, not the mechanical ones. I think that will make it easier.

yotasavg

I'm sure you could use any length blade on the FJ setup though. I run longer blades that stock on my 4runner as it is. I like the idea of getting most things changed to electrical when the opportunity arises.

shaeff

I have no issues with wiper speed. This helps, a LOT:



I apply it roughly once a year, lasts WAY longer than Rain-X. In fact, it blows Rain-X out of the water.

Co_94_PU

iTrader: (-1)

If you want faster wipers tweak the circuit in the switch, easy. For changing the wiper lengths you'll need the different arms in most cases so they line up with the center of the window. And WTH are guys talking about all wiper motors are electric, there is no crazy wobble shaft mechanisim from the pullys to the wipers?!

Yeah You guys all managed to confuse me, kudos! Excpet the rain-x/aquapel guy That I got just fine

matt18603

ok...I understand I confuse people. And I really dont care about that too much. As I said, I like to think of new ideas. The FJ has 3 wipers. Mine has 2. I would like 3. I have never seen an older toyota with 3. So what I was looking for was input on whether it would be cool or not. Yes, rain-x works great.
Rain-x, however, not too cool. I never said that ALL wipers are electric. I simply stated that MOST new wipers have an electric motor that pulses the wipers to move. No transmission and linkages or anything like that. So the switch over would be a bit easier.
Im new here and I know that a lot of people dont know me well. But I like new ideas, and seeing them implemented. I dont know, always been that way.

Co_94_PU

iTrader: (-1)

Sorry sir. I kinda went off topic on you and didn't even notice. I really ment to comment on the Fj wiper mod and seems to of spaced it out. Going to blame the aforementioned confusion.

I've not seen the FJ tripple wipers. I'm sure if you thought about it long enough you'd figure out what parts to swap. I can guess it'll need some welding or creative nut placement maybe. Will probably require pulling the dash if you have to weld to the, yeah I forgot what its called(See still confused and no one said anything), deck behind the firewall.

And it dawned on me what you guys ment.. "Some wipers are direct drive" Doh yeah some of the older ones are DD also, can't recall what vehicle it was but we used to have to get out and stall one by hand to get them sinked back up so they wouldn't contact the other.

When you go to the yard to source your FJ motors and wiper arms bring along some cardboard, markers and writing pad&pin, and of course a camera. Take lots of measurements and notes should simplify the swap.

Also don't forget to snag the line T for the fluid and the nozzle

Grego92

iTrader: (4)

I would say definitely a "unique" idea as I haven't seen it on a 92' pickup. Cool? I dunno, that's subjective, as long as you think so go for it! who cares what others think

I got something going on my truck that I haven't posted up yet on my build thread that I think is cool, but my co-worker's (non-yota truck enthusiast) think it's stupid

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

I have never seen one of these up close .

Would this be a complete redesign of the truck wiper system ??

Or would you just be able to mount a new wiper motor to drive the third wiper?? If so just where would it mount??

Besides I think the stock wipers are to fast go figure

matt18603

i kind of planned on seeing if i can find an entire panel with wipers motors and all. Wyoming, yes. In my mind I would gut that whole section of the truck and replace everything. I planned on either modding the panel if possible or making a new panel with the new mounts and workings inside. But as CO said, Id have to take the dash out as well. So this will probably wait until I do my motor swap. (next year?) I would have to pick thru it in a j/y so I could trace stuff back etc. Im sure there will be several relays and such. Hey who knows if Ill ever have the time to do that or if any FJ will be in the jy to pick thru. But I like the idea and will sometimes just throw stuff out there to see if people think its possible. Because to ME , anythings possible.
Ive even thought of transplanting a 4.9l FWD V8 and dash, computers and all from a ealry 90's Cadillac into a 70-72 Chevelle. lol. Call me ....Frankenstein I guess. LOL

shaeff

Just so everyone's on the same page:

yotasavg

Didn't mean to cause confusion, all I was trying to say is faster motors would be nice. Now im even more confused cause I thought machine elves turn them manually? 3 Elf Power FJ wipers would be great! Anyway, I too use aquapel, and it does help. If I can tweak my current motors to run faster though that sounds good too. Can you elaborate on that CO_94_PU?

SCToy

I actually like the wipers more on my 81 than on the 95, it had no intermittent setting, so in a drizzle I was constantly having to flick the switch for 1 wipe. The first gen has an 3 settings with a useful speeds.

Co_94_PU

iTrader: (-1)

I can explain the theory but don't have an intermitten spare laying around to pull apart.

First off if high isn't fast enough for you there are only two options, increase the wiring guage used and/or rewind the motor. Also adding a relay wouldn't be a bad idea this would allow a higher current and less voltage drop. You can of course source a different faster motor and swap them.

Ok so the intermitten wipers are controlled by an R/C timer. The short version tweak is "change the RC circuit by altering the capacitor"

RC time calculator
RC circuit wiki

The internal circuit inside the switch is shown in the wiring diagrams. The motor is switched power, eg ground is constantly connected.
The motor is dual wound, one wire set for each of high and low.

Power is input thru pin 4 and switched between 9(Yellow-blue)Highspeed, or 8(Blue-black)Lowspeed, pin 4 also supplies the charge current for the R/C. C1(capacitor) charges thru Vr1(variable resistor,Int adjyst knob), once it hits the threshold for D1(diode) it activates the T1(transistor) which in turn closes the relay. When this relay switches it diverts power from pin4 to pin8, which triggers the wipers to move. There are of course some bits I'm not going to cover like the reverse flow diode or the R/R voltage divider, these are both protection devices and shouldn't be altered.

So if you want faster intermitten you could just swap pins 8 and 9, in which case your Low and High speeds are reversed on the switch and the INT setting will use the high speed winding. To get slower than the lowest INT setting you need to increase the size of the capacitor or add more resistance inline to the knob, this needs to be directly connected to the knob wiring so it doesn't alter the discharge path.

If anyone cares to pull the cover off a spare INT wiper switch I can draw where to make connections on it.

yotasavg

Wow very informative, thank you so much!

matt18603

I dont have a spare here, but wow. Awesome explanation.