windshield wiper motor rebuild

[Darbone85737]

I've search to no avail. Can anyone point me to information re: rebuild/ repair/restoration of the vacuum motors for these cars ?

 

I don't really drive in the rain but I like having things work as well as possible

[Barabbas]

Don't know about vacuum motors but Newport Engineering makes an Electric Wiper that will fit 46-50 plymouths

[TodFitch]

For the earlier single blade wiper motors as used on things like mid-1930s and earlier cars and military trucks into the Korean War era you can get rebuild kits and assuming the pot metal is in reasonable shape they are a very easy rebuild. Basically just swap the internal parts, lubricate it and put it together with new gaskets.

 

However kits for the dual wiper blade motors as used in later cars may be hard to find. I've heard that Wiper Man (Ficken Wiper Service) purchased all of Trico's stock and will not sell kits. But they have a reputation for doing a good quality rebuild for a reasonable price.

[soth122003]

I had Ficken do mine. I was very pleased with the results. Here is the site check it out.

 

http://www.wiperman.com/

 

Joe

[Darbone85737]

I guess that leaves one with no choice.  The wiper blades move but very slowly.   Now to figure how to get the damned thing out of the car. Seems the easiest way is to remove the radio first

[Don Coatney]

Is your windshield dry when the blades move slowly? Water will act as a lubricant and allow the blades to travel with less resistance.

 

Before you remove the wiper motor try this. Remove the vacuum rubber hose from the manifold. Hold the end higher than the wiper motor and fill the hose with light oil such as 3-in-one or air tool oil. With the hose full and still higher than the wiper motor manually move the wiper blades back and forth letting gravity drop the oil into the wiper motor. This might or might not work but it is easier than removing the wiper motor.

[Darbone85737]

Thanks for the suggestion Don.  We had the rare day of "rain" (a couple of hundreths of an inch) here in Tucson yesterday which led me to try the wipers. 

 

Aside from my sentimental reasons for owning this car (my first car in 1968)  I like old cars and motorcycles because all the parts are built from components put together by hand in factories. That means, to me, they can be taken apart and rebuilt with new components.  I think I've had my hands on every bit of this car. 

 

I decided to take the motor out and take it apart just to see how it works.  I did need to take the radio out (easy) and once that is done the wiper motor is right there, attached by two 3/8 inch nuts.  Took off the cable for the knob on top of the dash, removed the hose and out she came.  The thing is caked in dirt as it sits in the air flow from the center vent.  It's obviously never been touched so there is 65 years of  redTexas dirt caked to it 

 

The top is held on the motor by odd looking screws.  Tokk them out using a pair of small pliers.  Once that was done I was able to remove the top and check out the mechanism inside. The thin gasket holding the parts together remained intact.  There's a wide lever that runs in a chamber which actuates the arms to the wipers. It was caked in hardened grease,  barely moveable  by hand.   I've got the thing soaking in  solvent and it's working loose now.  I'm going to clean the chamber with cotton swabs soaked in thinner,  blow the passages out with compressed air, lube it with light oil as you described and put it back together.

 

I'll   hook it back up to the vacuum line before I reinstall it.  If it works I'll be smiling at the accomplished task. If not I'll pack it up and send it away to be rebuilt. 

 

I'll let you all know how it goes and I'm taking some pictures.  

Edited April 25, 2015 by Darbone85737

[Darbone85737]

Here it is.  Very crusty from 65 years of sitting under the dash.  Took the top off being careful not to disturb the (unavailable) gasket.  The chamber in which the paddle swings was clogged full of hardened grease. Could barely move it by hand. Soaked in a degreasing solution for 30 minutes, sprayed with carb cleaner and used a toothbrush and cotton swabs to clean thingsup. Lubed with tool oil and mechanism now works smoothly.  Attached the vacuum line and she's working strongly.

 

Hard to see where there are wear parts in this thing. I'm thinking most issues are caused by dried grease and dirt.  Probably due to age and such infrequent use  (unless you live in BC or the northwest US) 

 

At any rate it took me around an hour and aside from saving $ 110 it was fun to see how this thing works.  Not a hard job once it's out on a table.   I'm replacing those screws with the odd heads with regular slotted or Phillips head screws, just because.  

 

Hope this helps someone else down the line.

 

If anyone has an extra of one of the clips that hold the arm going from the motor to the wiper I could use it

 

 

Edited April 25, 2015 by Darbone85737

[46Ply]

Excellent writeup!  Now I'm wondering how this thing actually works!

[soth122003]

I did the same thing you did. Pulled it, took it apart and cleaned and oiled. Re-installed and it did work, but the paddle seals were shot and it sounded like me after a couple minutes of running wheezing and gasping. So I had to send mine out for repair. Glad to hear yours was savable.

 

Joe

[Young Ed]

 

The top is held on the motor by odd looking screws.  Tokk them out using a pair of small pliers.  Once that was done I was able to remove the top and check

 

 

 

You mean you didn't have one of these sockets to take them out?

 

[46Ply]

Pretty good writeup here with lots of pictures on how to clean and restore a vacuum motor.

 

http://www.mooneymite.com/articles-miscellaneous/magnani_wiper_repair/magnani_wiper_repair.html

[Darbone85737]

I ordered weather stripping and vent window rubber bits from Andy Bernbaum last week. Today I got the parts along with their new catalog.

 

Along with a lot of stuff that wasn't listed previously they now sell a rebuild kit for the 1933 thru 1950 vacuum wiper motors ($ 60)  or a complete  wiper motor assembly for $ 225 plus core.  

[1950 Special Deluxe]

Is your windshield dry when the blades move slowly? Water will act as a lubricant and allow the blades to travel with less resistance.

 

Before you remove the wiper motor try this. Remove the vacuum rubber hose from the manifold. Hold the end higher than the wiper motor and fill the hose with light oil such as 3-in-one or air tool oil. With the hose full and still higher than the wiper motor manually move the wiper blades back and forth letting gravity drop the oil into the wiper motor. This might or might not work but it is easier than removing the wiper motor.

My wipers on my 52 Dodge DG1 (Canadain version) were not working.

I did as Don instructs here, and they now work great.

Great tip and proof that the search function works.

Thanks Don

[lostviking]

The internet is great at keeping information accessible. My truck had an aftermarket set of electric motors installed when I bought it, but the original vacuum motors were included. One was frozen up. I started to disassemble it and when the shaft was a bit looser, it moved. I stopped and retightened the screws, then put a little lube inside. Now it moves just fine.

 

I'm cleaning up everything, and still might need to swap the wiper arms as there was rust on the metal at both ends of the rods. I wire brushed them with some WD40 to clean them as best I could and was able to remove all the loose stuff.

 

I just pained the parts with Corroseal. We will see how they are after that drys up.

 

I'll probably use a liberal amount of WD40 on the inside to clean away any crud build up. It's a great parts cleaner, but evaporates over time. After it's clean I'll use the machine oil recommended above.

 

Thank you all for posting this great information. I was kind of afraid of the unknown, but they are really simple.

 

Here are pictures showing the direction of the bent spring under the control, and the what's under the press on cap for reference. You can see how cruddy they started.

[Young Ed]

14 hours ago, lostviking said:

The internet is great at keeping information accessible. My truck had an aftermarket set of electric motors installed when I bought it, but the original vacuum motors were included. One was frozen up. I started to disassemble it and when the shaft was a bit looser, it moved. I stopped and retightened the screws, then put a little lube inside. Now it moves just fine.

 

I'm cleaning up everything, and still might need to swap the wiper arms as there was rust on the metal at both ends of the rods. I wire brushed them with some WD40 to clean them as best I could and was able to remove all the loose stuff.

 

I just pained the parts with Corroseal. We will see how they are after that drys up.

 

I'll probably use a liberal amount of WD40 on the inside to clean away any crud build up. It's a great parts cleaner, but evaporates over time. After it's clean I'll use the machine oil recommended above.

 

Thank you all for posting this great information. I was kind of afraid of the unknown, but they are really simple.

 

Here are pictures showing the direction of the bent spring under the control, and the what's under the press on cap for reference. You can see how cruddy they started.

 

 

 

Mac's ford parts sells the cover gaskets without having to buy a full rebuild kit. Then you could pop the top off and clean the inside. 

[lostviking]

Just bought two kit's from Mac's. Buy them on Amazon rather than ebay and you'll save about $2. They are listed as for Model A Fords, but I'm sitting here with the kits and the gaskets are an exact match. The kit comes with the parts to rebuild the paddle, so it's up to you to buy just a gasket. Rivets, paddle sealing parts, gaskets, grease and a detailed drawing with instructions. Nice. The only thing missing is hard parts if you needed those.

[Sniper]

Do you have a part number or something to ID them on Amazon?

[lostviking]

On 3/9/2020 at 6:48 AM, Young Ed said:

 

Mac's ford parts sells the cover gaskets without having to buy a full rebuild kit. Then you could pop the top off and clean the inside. 

Sure, that's works fine if your paddles are sealing. But then why open it? I had one that didn't function due to worn paddle seals. I bought two kits because, why not?

 

Now looking at the kits, you could probably make the paddle seals....if you have a new set to use at a template. Like, because you bought two Same for the top gaskets. I'm planning on transferring them all to CAD. In fact, I might just copy the little bakelite (SP) looking part too, because I think it might just be something that breaks when people rebuild. I'm not sure why that couldn't be made of another material, like metal. Maybe due to wear at the top...I don't know. Once I've got a CAD file I can really do anything. Then again, I may die of old age before I need to get inside these again...here is San Diego and a truck I won't drive in bad weather.

 

Like I think I said, these are not sold for our cars/truck, but rather for a Model A. There is one rivet missing, which you will notice soon enough. I simply too an aluminum pop rivet and cut it down. This rivet is NOT holding the paddle together, so I figure the aluminum one is plenty strong enough.

 

Whole lot of fumbling around and now I have two motors that work again. Not that I've tried them on my truck yet, just put my thumb over the hole and move the wiper arm. Either way it was fun to rebuild them.

 

Here is the part on Amazon. MACs Auto Parts 2894104 Trico KCX/KSB/KSL Series Wiper Motor Paddle Repair Kit Model A. Mine are KSB 406 variants.

Edited March 16, 2020 by lostviking
got wordy with it :)

[TodFitch]

59 minutes ago, lostviking said:

. . . In fact, I might just copy the little bakelite (SP) looking part too, because I think it might just be something that breaks when people rebuild. . .

 

Some place on the web I came across a place were a fellow claimed to have made a new bakelite replacement using a standard 3-d printer. Not sure how long the plastic would hold up but it would probably work for a while.

 

(Actually, if the part you are referring to is the one I am thinking of then it is more likely micarta, the stuff they used to make circuit boards from in the old tube electronics era.)

[lostviking]

On 3/15/2020 at 6:10 PM, TodFitch said:

 

Some place on the web I came across a place were a fellow claimed to have made a new bakelite replacement using a standard 3-d printer. Not sure how long the plastic would hold up but it would probably work for a while.

 

(Actually, if the part you are referring to is the one I am thinking of then it is more likely micarta, the stuff they used to make circuit boards from in the old tube electronics era.)

That's the part, but I was too afraid of breaking one to examine it very carefully. Both my motors are back together now, waiting to be reinstalled. I'm going to pull the electric motors out the previous owner put in. The only electric ones I'd use are ones that were available as a option. Not sure if that was an option or not. See it mentioned in the parts book though.