Hello,
I just happened to see your question while doing some other searches. Actually, I am glad to have found this forum, lots of good information.
I am the owner of RipTech Engineering, and I think I might be able to answer your questions. If you still have questions, please let me know at
mark@riptech.net, and I can do my best to get you the information you need. (I think I had responded to you, based on the name.)
Like other posters have correctly stated, the upgrade kits are not intended to address any existing problems with the wiper system. The upgrade kits contain a lengthened motor crank arm, which replaces the original, to provide the additional sweep angle. They also include arms which are modified to park the blades parallel with the bottom of the windshield, and new blades. There are 2 styles, the "OEM-style" basic kit, and the billet kit. The billet kit is functionally identical to the basic kit, but can provide unique styling to your Jeep, and the billet arms are quite a bit sturdier than the original wiper arms. All kits have a lifetime warranty against any sort of failure or defect. I'd say no questions asked, but that's not exactly true. Unless there is obvious abuse or tampering (which I have never seen in the 6 years I have owned the company), all returns are honored, but I always like to get feedback or any other information that would help us improve the product, so we always like to ask what might have been the problem. We also like to receive back any defective parts for analysis.
Having said all that, I have seen on aftermarket windshields where the linkage can bind. Most of the time, the reason for the binding is that the original dimensions of the system are no longer present. I would guess that any modified/repaired windshield would be subject to the same potential issues. In those cases, it seems that through trial and error, you can find the correct positioning for the motor and the pivots. Whenever there is evidence of binding, including any sort of "innocent" clunking inside of the windshield frame, you run the risk of damaging the plastic gear inside of the wiper motor over time
The geometry of the system is rather simple - the length of the linkage connections between the pivots should be the same as the distance between the centerlines of the pivots themselves, and the length of the linkage connections between the motor crank arm and the driver-side pivot should be the same as the distance between the centerlines of the motor crank arm and the driver-side pivot. Pivot and motor crank arm axes should all be parallel. The tolerance for these distances preferably would be on the order of 0.001". In practice, it can be difficult to get all of these correct, since even on new vehicles this might not have been the case.
But until the system can be made to work properly *without* the upgrade, the upgrade should not be installed, because the upgrade actually forces the system to work near the outer edge of its design tolerances. We do offer motor crank arms of longer and shorter lengths than the one we provide to make allowances for this, but I would highly recommend getting the existing system in order before attempting an upgrade.
Lastly, I am working on trying to make repair parts available once again for YJs and CJs. Recently, our vendor discontinued these parts due to quality issues, and they are only available from new-old-stock sources, which I have been unable to find. When we find a source, I will make these parts available on our web site.
Let me know if I can provide any other information. Hopefully this has been useful, or at least a starting point. Good luck on your project.
Best regards,
Mark Lott
RipTech Engineering
800-238-1849 (all calls returned)
mark@riptech.net
Hey I've been searching and found several posts about people installing this and being happy with it. However nothing addressed the question I have. (I also have an email into the company inquiring about it)
My question is, right now my wiper motor "sometimes" (and by sometimes I mean usually when I need it most) jams up because the linkage kind of gets out of whack.
I know many CJ people often experience the same thing. Is this what their system is meant to take care of? Or is their system mainly designed to get the wipers out of the viewing area and get a larger sweep?
My windshield frame is original so that hole with the keyway for the wiper pivot was very weak. What I did was cut a new hole with a new keyway out of 1/8" steel and weld it on top of where the old hole was. Well I banged/ground down the ribbed part of the hole first. It works, like I said.. sometimes.
Oh here's the link to their website:
RipTech Engineering: 1968 - 1986 Jeep® CJ - Basic Wiper Upgrade Kits
