Wiper Woes & Wows

[im02crazy]

My '66 WM300 is fitted with American Bosch electric wiper motors.

During the rewire I wired them to a dash-mounted toggle switch. We had an odd-ball switch in stock that is Center OFF, ON left and Momentary ON Right position. (see image below).

It's easier to reach, and allows a momentary operation to de-mist the windscreen.

Also, to allow me to somewhat synch them up and prevent myself or another from being tempted to move them by hand, I installed a push button switch (Normally ON / momentary OFF) switch in the overhead that interrupts the Passenger Side only when depressed.

While this is not a big deal to move a vacuum wiper by hand - and they can be controlled independently- it's instant death to move an electric direct drive wiper by hand.

When I tested the wipers the Driver Side worked well and silently, while the Passenger Side was lagging and noisy.

I found a NOS wiper in a box recently, and am planning to remove and refurb the Passenger Side unit. I will post the step-by-step process soon.

Until then, please check out this great example of new old stock on the web site

http://www.flyingtigertransport.com/...oschwiper.html

Thanks!

[Matthew Ziegler]

motors

how well do those wiper motors work? I acquired 3 of them recently and plan to use them on a wwII ford, I'm hoping they work a lot better than vacuum but still look the same age as the truck. I just want to make sure they're a good unit before I put a lot of work into fixing them up or having them rebuilt.

[im02crazy]

Adequate, yes, but only for rain.

If you have the same American Bosch unit (period vintage) they are quite fine for a drizzle to moderate rain. Downpour- pull-over. Snow or ice: clear the windscreen first - no way these will run from iced-up condition without damage to gears. If you can get the defroster cooking, they will move light snow - blizzard conditions- pull-over. Better than vacuum, yes, with one exception; you can manually operate the vacuum motors. I have seen a few alternatives to these direct-drive gear motors, but they all have pros and cons. The cable-drive system looks cool, but I'm not sure if it's any more reliable or powerful. There are a number of manufacturers on the market that make a more durable direct-drive solution. These are either Marine or Bus applications and are over $250, bu they are out there. Check back on the www.flyingtigertransport.com site for the rebuild we are doing on the old motor. We will start that in a few weeks and it will include step-by-step directions if you want to try the re-hab yourself. We will also include parts suppliers and the alternatives to the original equipment. Check these out from IMTRA: http://www.imtra.com/collateral/docu...r_brochure.pdf Dave

[Matthew Ziegler]

thanks

Thanks, this is an open cab truck with a jeep style windshield so they have to look like they belong,it's a warm weather truck, so snow shouldn't be a problem, I remember the vacuum models in my m37 only worked well going downhill.