Vacuum wiper motor for 1952 Hudson Hornet

FinnHudson

Greetings from Finland.
My own wiper motor is leaking.
Does someone have a working one for sale??

Jon B

Are you sure it is leaking? (Even if it is, it may be fixable.)

Sometimes it merely needs some internal lubrication to soften the leather seal on the paddle which sweeps back and forth within the vacuum chamber.  Unless you can find a new motor immediately, you might try to lubricate the seal to see if it helps.

Remove the wiper motor (it is not completely necessary but makes it easier to work on the motor this way).  Remove the rubber hose at the inlet pipe, and place a very short rubber hose on the inlet.  The other end should go into a bottle of "neats foot oil" (for reconditioning leather shoes), or sometimes people use brake fluid, I think.  Then rotate the motor back and forth which will pull the fluid into the chamber.  (The excess fluid will drip out of the exhaust hole in the motor, and depending upon where the motor is located, it may drip into the engine compartment or your floor!  That is why it is sometimes easier to remove the motor entirely in order to work on it.)

Let the fluid sit for hours or even a day or so, rotating the motor's pivot from time to time, in order to spread the fluid around inside the motor.  Finally, remove the short rubber tube, move the motor shaft back and forth to help clear out the fluid, and replace the vacuum hose from the engine.

On the other hand, it is possible that the entire casting has warped with age, and in so doing the seal has been broken, and no amount of lubrication will help.  This happened to me, and I was lucky enough to find a brand new wiper motor on Ebay, very inexpensively.

Perhaps someone else will suggest a better way to attempt this lubrication, but this is how I have done it and it is worth a try!

FinnHudson

Thanks for response Jon B.
I removed the wiper motor and used brake fluid just as you told. I let the fluid sit in about a week, rotated the motor several times. It helped a little bit. The wipers will go very slowly if the windshield is wet but will stop immediately when the windshield is dry. I can hear the motor leaks (I have a separate electic vacuumpump with the tank).

Jon B

It may be warped then, or perhaps it could be rebuilt.  We have a few wiper rebuilders in America, like wiperman.com.  I would watch Ebay (it helps if you can locate the correct "Trico" part number, because sometimes the sellers do not know exactly which car their motors fit).

FinnHudson

Yes, I asked wiperman.com if I could send my wiper motor for rebuilding, but he doesn't have any repair kit for it. He has a 1947-63 Willys motor which could be very close. Here is the link to it:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1947-63-Willys-Wagon-Truck-Professionally-Rebuilt-Wiper-Motor-3-yr-warr-Jeepster-/401320625389?hash=item5d7092c4ed:g:rNMAAOSw3ZRZAJxa
It could be possible to use it with some small modifications.
I know I could buy an electric motor but I will keep my car as original as possible.

brentprim

Hi FinnHudson - Glad to know there are some other Hudsons on this side of the Atlantic. I'm in Germany, and am looking for a km/h (export) speedometer for my '51 Hornet.  I probably just need to change the face, not the whole working of the speedometer. Do you know of any sources or parts cars which might have a km/h speedo face?  Could probably come from any '48-54 stepdown, not just a '51. I think the only difference would be that the numerals would be placed on the face differently than on the mph speedo.  Numbers would likely go up to 200, not 120.  I can of course drive and mentally convert the speed from mph to km/h, but I want the 'right' speedo for use in Europe.

For your wiper, I would check with Wildrick Restorations in Indiana, USA, which is a shop that specializes only in Hudsons.  They may be able to rebuild the motor, or supply you with a working one.

Regards, Brent

Jon B

It seems odd that this wiper motor would be a "one year only", and thus difficult to find.  Have you tried the on-line library to determine the Hudson part number for your wiper motor, then cross-referenced it with other years to see if perhaps yours can be replaced with another year of Hudson wiper motor?  (It might be that the difference between the '53 and earlier years, was some minor feature which you could adapt yourself.)  At least this would expand your range of opportunities.

RichardD

https://newportwipers.com/product-category/cars/hudson/

Might want to consider;  2-speed, no slowdown on hills

Edit: after talking to them, I don't think what I am showing is theirs !!