Wiper sweep

[Rockbass]

1947 ford tudor super deluxe. This car is new to me and has had many owners. The wipers did not work, took out the vacuum motor and switch, found the problem and reinstalled. The wipers park in the center! Is this normal? Did I hook up the hoses incorrectly? There seems to be only one way to attach the arms to the motor.
Thanks, Brian

[51 MERC-CT]

Try switching the hoses. They should park outboard.

[larry butcher]

I think, and I'am going out on a limb on this; Ford products of this time period
all had a knurled (spelling?) post outside at windshield that the wiper arm it seft attached to. The arm can be pulled straight out and reattcheda at a different position. The Lincoln Zephyrs of the 30s used a chrome plated
cap screw to hold the arm on.different

[rotorwrench]

You mention that you found and corrected the problem but no explanation of what all you did with the Trico motor. If valving on the motor was tinkered with then parts may have been installed incorrectly. If you did nothing to the motor then it may be that the actuator arms were switched on the rocker arm.

[34PKUP]

Originally Posted by larry butcher

I think, and I'am going out on a limb on this; Ford products of this time period
all had a knurled (spelling?) post outside at windshield that the wiper arm it seft attached to. The arm can be pulled straight out and reattcheda at a different position. The Lincoln Zephyrs of the 30s used a chrome plated
cap screw to hold the arm on.different

The wiper blades in this case are currently in the vertical parked position.
If one was to relocate the blades to the horizontal parked position, upon starting the wipers they would be driven into the paint and body.
Bad move!

[Rockbass]

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Thanks for your suggestions.
1/ I swapped hoses both at the motor and at the on/park switch, no change in rocker arm sweep, only switch control.
2/ The arm from the motor to the wiper pivot is staked onto the pivot shaft, no adjustment!
3/ The fixed problem was a piece of plastic stuck in the vacuum supply line at the switch but I did take apart the little switching mechanism cleaned it and put it back together the way it was. Did not open up diaphragm compartment. Note from picture that rocker arm is swaged on shaft, no adjustment! The rocker arm oscillates back and forth just fine now. The pivot stud on the right (#25 side) in the picture sweeps along the blue mark arc.
I am stumped at what to try next.
Thanks, Brian

[Rockbass]

Meant to say pivot stud on the LEFT

[40cpe]

When you put the motor back in, reverse the arms at the wiper motor pivot. I think that reversed the sweep on my '40.

[51woodie]

When I was working on my '46 coupe wipers, I took the wiper arms off and put a "flag" on using a couple inches of masking tape, so the "flags" were pointing outwards in the park position. That way, there would be no damage from the wiper arms if I made a mistake in connecting the wiper linkage at the motor. As 40cpe said, try swapping the linkages at the wiper motor.

[pbc]

That motor I believe is not ford notice the pivot arm its straight fords were curved. You may not get a correct sweep

[51woodie]

pbc may have a point about the pivot arm. The one on my '46 has a bit of an angle in it, but I dont know what a '47 motor would look like. Are the 46/47 wiper motors different? The reason I ask is that I had contacted a wiper motor rebuilder to do my wiper motor, and the response was; they are not worth doing as they are not very good, and suggested to change to a '47 wiper setup. This pic is the one from my '46.

[Phil Gillespie]

Originally Posted by 51woodie

pbc may have a point about the pivot arm. The one on my '46 has a bit of an angle in it, but I dont know what a '47 motor would look like. Are the 46/47 wiper motors different? The reason I ask is that I had contacted a wiper motor rebuilder to do my wiper motor, and the response was; they are not worth doing as they are not very good, and suggested to change to a '47 wiper setup. This pic is the one from my '46.

I had the same response must have been the same wiper motor builder.
Have now brought one off ebay.
Phil NZ

[pbc]

51woodie all 41 -48 fords are the same not sure on early or later

[rotorwrench]

Trico likely made them all. Later replacements may have been slightly different but most folks just kept plugging along with them and hoping it wouldn't rain too hard.

[51woodie]

One thing the rebuilder told me, was to make sure the wiper arms and wipers were correct for the vehicle. "some wiper arms have too much spring tension and blades can be too long and/or heavy. As in the picture, mine are both of those, so I have correct ones to install when spring comes.

[Graeme / New Zealand]

I have the same issue with my 48. I had an early 47 car that didn't have this issue.

The wiper systems on the 41 to early 47 have a different arrangement to to later 47/48s'
By early 47s I mean 46 cars that were classified as 47s with the rectangular park lights in the fender catwalks. Later 47 and 48s' having the round parklights.

41 to E 47 used different wiper towers to to L47 and48s'.

the early ones had the wiper motor mounted in a U shaped bracket that attached under the dash. Each wiper arm is attached to the pivot that comes through the scuttle. These are in unit and they in turn are held on to the wiper motor with a spring clip arrangement. The pivots through the scuttle have small bezels that screw around them and hold them in place. they use the wiper switch you have.

Later 47s and 48s have a different set up. The wiper motor sits in a frame that incorporates the wiper arms already attached to that frame complete with the pivots. The whole unit is mounted by pushing the pivots up through the scuttle and tying them in by securing the bezels around the pivots. These bezels are a lot larger that the early ones. The switch used is different in that it has a cable operate switching it on and off.

The 2 different systems use 2 different Trico wiper motors The early ones use a SSR 1 type. The later ones use a SSM 114

I have the same wiper parking problem. All NZ assembled 46/48 fords run the US 41 dash incorporating the 41 switch which has a similar wiper hose set up to the 46/early 47 US version. Being a 48 my car has that later wiper assembly and I have to use that because of the bigger bezel holes. So I effectvely have an early wiper motor on later set up and a a result the wipers park up against the windshield divider. I can't "re-clock" the wiper arms because they end up wanting to wipe down towards the firewall.

So I would be interested in any solutions too.

I've attached a picture of the "frame type" setup round parklight 47/48s should have. The second and third pics show the 41 to early 47 wiper motor and the same mounted in its bracket complete with switch.

[Graeme / New Zealand]

late 47/48 wiper motor pic that uses a cable to activate SSM114

[Graeme / New Zealand]

large bezel for wiper arm pivot at scuttle as for late 47/48 from G &Gs site.

Early models had the small bezel see wipers on close up of 51 Woodies windshield pic.

GB

[Black46]

I had the same wiper position/ sweep issue on my 1946 coupe. Wipers parked upright. I took off the wipers and taped black 8" zip ties loose to the wiper arm studs to mimic the wipers and make sure no scratching paint etc. I was able to fix the problem easily..just a bit of a pain getting under the dash. I just undid the 2 mounting screws on the motor..then was able to drop it down a few inchs. I thin pulled the cotter pins that hold each strut on the motor. I then spun the little bracket that the struts attach too on the motor about 90 degrees...I then attached the struts on the opposite studs . Bolted it back up , fired up the engine and the zip ties no lay flat down perfectly. Then just put the original wiper arms back on ..with new wiper blades and life is good. Hope that helps anyone else in the same position (pun intended). Now the car looks proper as it should..

[Kube]

Originally Posted by pbc

51woodie all 41 -48 fords are the same not sure on early or later

In an attempt to clear the now muddied waters, the above statement is false.