electric v. vacuum

what is more more reliable?

the original vacuum wipers or electric wipers? I bought 2 electric ones for my 3A, but now I'm not sure if they are worth it.

I started thinking after reading this thread.

 

If you use QUALITY electrical motors they will be much more reliable. The problem with any vacuum motors is they, well, rely on engine vacuum. That changes with load. As engine load increases the vacuum decreases so your wipers slow down when in general you need them the most. The quality electrical wiper motors don't suffer from this. What this means is going up hills the wipers may slow down, and may even stop. This was a real issue on Dad's GPW. On his they included little "levers" built right into the motors so when they slowed down you could help them out. Picture driving up a steep hill, off road, in a rain storm, in the dark, and having to reach up and operate the wipers by hand. Not the safest experience I ever had....

Convinced me to go quality electrics. The cheapo's really aren't very good though. Like brakes and steering, this is one place where it's worthwhile to spend some extra money and buy quality parts. Boat/marine places are a great place to look....

 

mine run off a vacuum pump. would that lose vacuum under load?

 

This is why on the m38, and on some cj's they had a vacume pump attached to the fuel pump. Still dont have my vacume wipers working yet, hope to this spring.

 

yes and no, it wont be as bad, but the more rpm's you loose the less the vacuum pump will pump. the pump setup is about as good as it gets with vacuum wipers

 

a vacuum reservoir (canister) would work to maintain highest vacuum during high rpm acceleration. me thinks. but yeah, a good electrical motor wiper is ideal. particularly in muddy and snowy conditions.

 

IMHO, electric. I converted to CJ5 electric wipers with linkage arms and all, and they are great. Just don't grab one while they are on. WOW!