On the recent trip to Scotland, the wipers on 136-8779 probably got their hardest work out for 30 odd years. The drivers side spindle gave up the ghost on the journey home, and although the drive gear was being turned, the spindle had sheered inside, so it wouldn't move the wiper arm.

A call to Andy Brook's of Appleyard's spares saw a new unit delivered, and then the fun started...

This job will reveal the following:

1.  You have more patience than you ever imagined
2.  You have a greater threshold of pain than you ever imagined
3.  You don't know enough swear words for the entire job
4.  Murphy's law is true. Doubly so on a Jensen
5.  Jensen started with the wiper spindles and built the car around them

Now for the bad points...

The fist task is to remove the wiper arms (driver and passenger). These are held onto the spindle with a spring catch that requires releasing with a screwdriver.

Once the arm is off, the locknut can removed from the spindle with a 19mm socket, and the chrome plinth taken off.

Next, remove the battery, and then remove the two 5/16 bolts that hold the strap that secures the wiper motor, which is hidden behind the battery. Unplug the cables from the motor, and you can then undo the nut holding the flexible drive conduit to the motor.

Gently pull the flexible drive cable out of the conduit until the spindle you are replacing stops turning (this is why you have to remove the wiper arms or they will spin 360 degrees).

The next step is to remove the bonnet catch.

This will give you enough room to get your hand behind the bracket the catch bolts onto. I have very small hands, and I found it very tight to get my hand into the spindle. If you have bigger hands, you may find yourself talking very nicely to your children...

The next step is to undue the two 3/8 nuts that hold the two halves of the spindle assembly together. This will release the spindle mechanism from the flexible drive conduit. This is where it gets difficult, and the patience, swearing, and pain come in.

I had to cut the end of a 3/8 spanner to allow it to turn in the confined space.

 There is a joke about a gynaecologist who decorated his hall through the letter box. I now believe it possible..

It is very difficult as the is no room at all to move the spindle around to get it off the drive conduit. I had to bend the conduit with a screw driver to get the spindle off, but it took several attempts and a long time.

The new one had different sized nuts (the smaller one is 5/16) which saves you having to do this.

With the spindle free from the drive conduit, the old unit can be withdrawn.

You will need to unbolt the 2 halves to split the new spindle the same as the old  to allow it to go over drive. Fitting the new spindle is the reverse of removing it, but is probably even more awkward than removing it. Don't grease (I used copper grease) the spindle until it is back on the drive conduit, or it will be to slippery to work with.

This was taken 3 hours after I finished the job.

Enjoy!