How do you lubricate,..

Roger Harmon
Roger Harmon Expert Adviser
edited November -1 in HUDSON
A vacuum wiper motor? Do you have to remove it from the car?



R/ Roger.

Comments

  • Unknown
    Unknown
    I think these got a leather seal, and have a bit of grease in them. They are not overly complex, and I bet if you get it apart, clean it good, lube it with a similar grease, and the seal is good, you might have a good shot at getting it working right.



    Oh yeah, you probably should take it off the car to do this kind of service.
  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    Motor removal shouldn't be necessary. You need to pump some lubricant inside the motor to limber up the leather seal, and you can use neoprene tubing (attached to the wiper's hose connection) to do this. See the following article, reprinted on the Plymouth car website: http://www.ply33.com/Repair/wiper



    You can use neats foot oil, available at any "real" shoe repair shop.



    No guarantee this will work, of course. If it doesn't, simply send your motor to Ficken's on Long Island, along with $60 or so, and they'll completely rebuild the motor. Before you do, make sure that you have vacuum to the motor, and that the linkages themselves are lubed and running smoothly.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User]
    Jon B wrote:
    Motor removal shouldn't be necessary. You need to pump some lubricant inside the motor to limber up the leather seal, and you can use neoprene tubing (attached to the wiper's hose connection) to do this. See the following article, reprinted on the Plymouth car website: http://www.ply33.com/Repair/wiper



    You can use neats foot oil, available at any "real" shoe repair shop.



    No guarantee this will work, of course. If it doesn't, simply send your motor to Ficken's on Long Island, along with $60 or so, and they'll completely rebuild the motor. Before you do, make sure that you have vacuum to the motor, and that the linkages themselves are lubed and running smoothly.

    Roger, you will no doubt run into another small hurdle when dismantling your wiper motor. The screw heads Trico used to put the wiper motors together are unique. They have an egg shaped screw that needs to have a likewise egg shaped driver to remove it. I made mine out of a steel bar by drilling a hole and then letting my drill egg out the recess on the end of the bar stock. It matches the Trico screw head in reverse so I had no trouble in removing the screws at all. I then attached an old screwdriver handle and BAM a new tool.
  • Roger Harmon
    Roger Harmon Expert Adviser
    I took the motor out, shot some neat's foot oil into it, worked it free and it works GREAT! Thanks for the tip.



    Now; the little rubber grommets at the motor end of the actuating arms fell apart, so they're loose on the motor (but don't fall off during operation). Are the grommets reproduced, or do I have to find something close?



    R/ Roger.
  • Jon B
    Jon B Administrator
    Little rubber grommets? Not sure where those go! I don't recall whether yours is the cable drive (Step-Downs) or rigid arm (earlier models) version, but if it's rigid arm, then are you speaking of #16, below?





    If so, the parts book refers to this as a "felt washer" and mine went the way of all felt washers, maybe 30 years ago. So you don't really need it, but if you wish you could probably cut one out of a semi-rigid piece of felt!





  • Unknown
    Unknown
    the neets foot oil does a wonderful job of restoring the leather in the motor but I'm not sure about its ability to lubricate much. I too was wondering if a type of grease should be used. Maybe Geoff would know?
  • Geoff
    Geoff Senior Contributor
    Jimalberta wrote:
    the neets foot oil does a wonderful job of restoring the leather in the motor but I'm not sure about its ability to lubricate much. I too was wondering if a type of grease should be used. Maybe Geoff would know?



    I'm afraid my success rate with wiper motors is pretty low. By the time they stop working, the leather boot is usually worn out, or the edges have turned back, in my experience. The original grease used seemed to turn pretty hard and waxy by the time the wiper stopped working. I have tried all types of grease with little success. although the one that did seem to work better was white lubriplate, as used in brakes. If the neatsfoot oil worked, I would leave well enough alone.

    Geoff.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    The wiper motors I've seen from the thirties have a rubber diaphram. I've always used Vasoline with these, it won't rot out the rubber.

    ironman
  • Roger Harmon
    Roger Harmon Expert Adviser
    Jon B.,



    Yes,.. number 16. They crumbled like old rubber, but they could have been felt, I guess. The wipers flop like Jerry Lewis now: I don't think felt could stand the crush pressure when the wipers change direction. I haven't seen them in any catalogs. I may have to cut some from thin walled vacuum tubing or something like that. If anybody has any info, please let me know. Thanks.



    R/ Roger.
This discussion has been closed.

Categories

In this Discussion