New member to the forum, first post................

[civdiv99]

I see by the forum rules that I need to have 3 posts before I can search the site for things of interest, so here goes post #1.

My rear wiper assy on an 11 yr old BMW X5 “fell off” inside the tailgate one day. I took it apart and wondered who thought it was a good idea to mount a several pound unit to a hatch-back with silly little plastic tabs molded into the housing. A replacement unit is a couple hundred bucks (German parts!), but there was absolutely nothing wrong with the functionality of the one I have. I just needed to come up with a more durable mounting system.

So, after a few hours doodling and making some chips in the garage, here we go (eventually I may get the hang of in-line pictures with individual descriptions, but I think the series of selected pictures tells the story):

 

[wpala]

I think you should forward that to BMW they may hire you to work in their RD department looks much better then what they put in this is exactly why things fail they cheap out on things to make them "affordable" but repair departments love they way things are under-engineer good for you love the way you made that bracket, I'm always impressed how folks can measure things that fit neatly back when they supposed to I find this the biggest challenge I'm always off but few thousands of the inch and have to modified things to fit one day it will come together, as for your project well made but it took a lot of metal to do it
Paul)

 

[civdiv99]

Thanks. I have accumulated a lot of aluminum over the years so the selection of what was already on hand drove the choice of pieces made.

I cut out a cardboard template to mark up holding it in place in the tailgate, and as far as precision - well, I was happy enough just cutting to my layout lines on the stock since the whole thing is rubber bushing mounted anyway.

As far as fit - well, in the last picture you can see the mounting tabs were off just a bit, but what you can't see is that I intentionally made it so the wiper unit can slide maybe 1/4 inch in order to center the output shaft in the tailgate seal. Then after in position I snugged down the screws clamping the wiper unit to the mounting plate.

 

[Philco]

That's a great job!!!!!! Thanks for the pictures.

 

[Rbeckett]

Civdiv,
Looks great!!!! Nothing better than fixing another engineers failure. If BMW had invested the time and effort to do it like you did the would have cheaped out and used pot metal that would break too. I love re-engineering and improving the quality of my stuff. I dont like to just replace parts, I really love knowing why it broke and taking steps to prevent having to do it again later. It is much better to only have to take it apart and fix it once then having to do it multiple times over a period of years. Welcome to the gang and once you get going there are very few limits. In the event you do run into issues, just let a mod know and we will be glad to help you get it resolved quickly. I do challenge all new members to get active and to become regular contributors so that we can all get to know you sooner. Have a great day and the rest of the weekend.
Bob