Intermittent Wiper Kit Installation

[Fred T]

If you ask my wife, I’m too picky about the way I work on things. I plead guilty, but I’m not that bad. Very little of what I put on a truck doesn’t have some changes made, I can always find ways to improve a design. Take that into consideration when reading my review of this product.

Intermittent wipers were a wonderful invention. For those of us who thought of wipers as having two speeds, too fast and faster, they were a godsend. In the 70s, intermittent wipers were a luxurious option most weren’t willing to spend the extra money on. Thanks to Putter, we now have a good option to retrofit our trucks.

The kit doesn’t appear to be much. The major piece has relays on one end and a switch housing on the other. Add to that a small packet of fasteners and a set of instructions, and the casual observer will not be impressed. However, big things can come in small packages.

I started by reading the instructions. They are very well-written, easy to follow, and have no errors that I noticed. They give you a step-by-step procedure to follow, and you can’t go wrong in doing so.

Next was an inspection of the parts. Great workmanship and quality parts were used. The connectors were the soldered heat-shrink style. Nothing mismatched or assembled by workers in lower slobovia.

I then started fitting the parts in the truck. I have left the instrument panel out of the dash waiting for this kit. First came trimming the flange on the dash. A Dremel with a grinding stone was used. This step will weaken the sheet metal, but that will only be a problem in a major impact. The flange does help with the rigidity of the dash opening, so don’t grind out any more than necessary. You will need to leave some of the flange for stiffening. There are 3 ½” washers in the packet, I used one of them as a spacer between the switch and the dash.

Not noted in the instructions is the switch position. If you are using the knob included in the kit, install the switch so that the flat of the stem is down when the switch is in the off position.

On to the wiring. When I tried plugging the spade terminals into the existing wiper switch plug I had problems. Instructions say to bend the spades, but that didn’t seem to be the best solution. I removed the plastic plug housing and found one of the terminals broken, the others were worn. Since I don’t like electrical connectors without a retention device, I decided to cut out the spade terminals and use butt terminals instead. I also had problems with the Scotchlok connector for the power wire. I could not get it to stay closed. I’ve never been a big fan of them, so I replaced the Scothlok with a soldered joint. Like I said, my wife thinks I’m too picky.

For mounting the relays, I made a bracket out of ¾” wide steel, which I mounted to the steering column support bracket. I was unable to find a good place to hang them with the cable ties, and this location appeared to be out of the way of a/c and defrost hoses. There was ample cable to reach this location, but the yellow power wire needed moved to come out of the bundle near the dash end.

One last issue is the switch housing threads. The original had ½”, this appears to be 7/16”. This means that the trim bezel will not fit and can’t be screwed onto the outside of the dash. If I can locate a tap, I might make a new trim piece from aluminum.

All in all, a great kit. Certainly worth the money, and not that difficult to install. You can buy them from Carolina Classics at http://www.carolinaclassictrucks.com...wiper-kit.html