Wiper park position for ‘36

terraplane8

For some reason my vacuum wipers park with the wiper arms to the outside of the windscreen rather than down at the bottom of the windscreen as they should.

What is the solution?

Rocket

It sounds like you have wiper arms out of adjustment have they worked in the past and now they stop working or have you been working on them lately if you have been working on them lately it sounds like the wiper arms are on the wrong post on the wiper motor under the dash if you have not worked on them lately try this disconnect the vacuum line and push the wiper arms to the bottom of the windscreen reconnect the vacuum line and see if they work.

Jon B

First, were they "parking" just fine, then all of a sudden they began to park in the wrong position?  Or did you do something to them, and then they began to act funny?  If so, then try to reverse whatever it is that you did, which caused them to park incorrectly.

Did you happen to remove the arms for some reason?  If so, you may have replaced them incorrectly on their shafts.  I think the '36 chromed arms fit on knurled shafts protruding from the chromed "towers" (outside the car, under the windshield halves).  When replacing the arms you can put them in any orientation.  Do your wiper arms clean a good swatch of the windshield, or do they just wipe the area at each side of the windshield?  If so, possibly you could remove the arms (when car has stopped, and wipers have been turned off) and replace them in the correct "parked" position.

Speaking of which, what IS the correct park position on your car?  On my '37 they rest at the bottom of the windshield facing one another. 

If it turns out that the arms were correctly installed, let's try something else, and look at the linkage rods that link the wiper transmissions to the motor.




The photo above is typical for most cars of the 30's to 50's.  Wiper motor at center (under dashboard), reciprocating bar on back of motor (on a shaft extending from the motor), with two posts on it.  These posts connect to two linkage rods, each of which runs to one of the wiper transmissions.  The transmissions have shafts that swing the arms.

Start the car, turn the wipers on, and then off.  When they park, they are (according to you) in the wrong position.  So, get under the dashboard looking up, and shine a light up there to see what you're doing.  (Please disconnect the battery first.  And remove the front seat cushion to allow yourself some room to maneuver.)

Locate the wiper motor.  Fumble around up behind it and you will discover the two long connecting rods, maybe 3/32" thick by maybe 1/2" wide, coming from the wiper motor over to the left and right wiper transmissions.  

Now fumble around behind the motor to find where the two rods connect to the reciprocating bar.  Like Rocket says, each rod has a hole in it, and slips over a short post or stud at opposite ends of the reciprocating bar.

Both linkage rods are prevented from coming off their separate posts by a spring thingy:


The oblong holes in the thin metal washers, snap into grooves on the posts.  Merely pull one washer away from the other and slide it off the post.  Then do the same with the other washer, and then you can slide the connecting links off the posts.  Now you need to reverse the connecting links so that the right link fits onto the post formerly occupied by the left link.  And vice versa.  Now replace the spring thingy to hold the rods in place.

You can test this solution by grabbing the reciprocating rod and rotating it about 180 degrees, then back (as the wiper motor would do in one complete cycle).

Did that solve the problem?  Then replace the seat cushion, re-connect the battery and have a beer.  If not, I'm plumb out of ideas.

terraplane8

Thanks Jon, this info is very helpful. I did swap the arms over at the wiper motor, but now the motor won’t cycle, it gets stuck for some reason! I’ll get back into it tomorrow and hopefully sort it out, as the wipers look so much better parked at the bottom of the screen.

Jon B

Did the wipers ever work correctly, since you've owned the car?

If not, there is always the possibility that a previous owner installed the incorrect wiper motor or transmissions.  The connecting links might be too short or long, and the motor might stop in a different position (correct for the '36 Ford they were made for, but not for your car).

terraplane8

They’ve always been wrong ever since I first got the car.

Jon B

The fact that someone may have put a different motor or wiper linkage in your car, could explain your "parking problem".  If you want to see if the parking position can be changed to the way in which you expect it to run, I would suggest:

1. Talking to other '36 owners to see exactly where their wipers park. 

2. Determine if your wiper motor is the one that belongs in your car.  You can look in the 1936 parts book (I believe there's one in the Club's online library).  Often, with mechanisms by outside suppliers (carburetors, generators, etc.) Hudson will give the part number of the mechanism.  It is possible that your wipers used a Trico SK-17 motor but you need to determine that).  Once you know the correct motor, you can try to find a marking on your motor to see if it corresponds with the Trico number.  If there is no number on your motor, you can try to find a photo of the correct Trico motor and then compare it with yours.

3. Determine if you have the correct linkage rods and wiper transmission.  Look at other '36's and if possible measure their linkage rod lengths.

If you determine that the current motor or linkage rods / transmission is/are not original, you can begin to look for a correct replacement, used or new.  I was lucky enough to find a brand new wiper motor on Ebay, when I learned that my old wiper motor was defective and not rebuildable.  The stuff's still out there.

Geoff

If they have always been wrong, then you have the wrong wiper unit.   These units have a self-park  when they are switched off, and the vacuum returns them to the start position.  You cannot alter that, if it parks on the right, it will always park on the right, or vice versa.   The wipers work in opposite directions to each other because of the linkage.