early wipers for the 53'

[41/53dodges]

has anybody successfully installed the electric wiper setup from an early PH into a later model B3/4

[Merle Coggins]

I believe the arms are different lengths due to the different mounting location of the wiper pivot bases. But other than that it may work.

Merle

[JBNeal]

I found an electric wiper motor from a '53 and tried to install in into my '49 cuz its vacuum motor diaphragm was dry-rotted. This required some 4-bar linkage calculations that I was reeeally rusty at doing. The sweep angle increased and pivot point moved further away from the motor as the '53 wipers park horizontal. This means modifiying the wiper arm linkage because the motor crank arm length is different for the B-1s & B-3s. My first attempt had the wipers slapping the outside window frame. It took several more attempts before I had something that worked, although now that I've found a '48 windshield wiper motor & linkage, I'll be removing the '53 motor to put in my driver.

Bottom line: swapping out the electric motors from a B-1 to a B-3 or vice versa isn't as easy as it appears because the wiper linkages will have to be fabricated. Once the linkage length is calculated, the bushing installation has to be accurate or the linkages will have enough slop in them that the wipers won't stay exactly synchronized, one appearing to trail the other and/or not having the same angle sweep.

[JBNeal]

On second thought, an easier way to figure out the linkage lengths instead of doing pencil-and-paper calculations is to make a layout if ya have all of the parts. A significant amount of this will require standing on your head while looking under the dash, unless ya want to go to the trouble and fabricate a mock-up that can be used on a work bench. The electric motor crank arm has a "park" position and a "full sweep" position; the wiper crank has a "park" and a "full sweep" position also. Locate the park position for the motor, then the park position for the wiper. This will give the length of the wiper linkage bushing center points. Verify by locating the motor & wiper full sweep positions.