Enough Musk Spam

Surprisingly it's been wiping since 93 with no issues! Unless it was changed by a previous owner. I should probably take it apart and repack the gearbox at this point, though. It slows down quite a bit if the windshield isn't wet enough, implying there's some drag in the system.

Back in the early 90s Mercedes were a lot different from how they are today, that car is put together so well that those old diesels are considered a true million mile car. Lots of things on it are really easy to take apart and maintain, too.

The only thing really failing on it is the paint which is cracked all to hell, and I'm honestly considering getting a repaint since there are only 200k miles on it. It helps that I'm friends with a body man/painter who can do it in his garage for a fraction of the cost.

I agree with keeping things simple, because more things mean more chance of failure, which eventually just becomes a matter of how frequently over time. However, this is a pretty simple design. It's a clever use of simple mechanisms. From the gif above, it's an extra gear with a linear actuator attached. It's not doing anything complex other than just cycling the actuator twice over the course of the full half circle –or four times a cross the entire gear if it could go all the way around. This is probably not going to be the thing that breaks, and even if it is it's probably easily replaceable (if it became common so the parts are available).