47-55.1 Vacuum Wiper motor question

[suburban99]

My 1950 has the original wiper motor in it with all the linkage, but does not have an actuator to turn them on. I assume (truck was apart when I got it) that the small arm on the vacuum motor is where the linkage would attach? Is the hole in the dash direct above it for the actutor (switch)?
Does everyone convert to electric? I have an LS with about 17-18" vacuum IIRC..Is it worth my time to connect and see if they work? I had a 53 willys previously that used vacuum wipers and they were ok.

[mr48chev]

The original knob for the wipers was that chrome knob up on the dash where my red arrow points to. It had a wire that ran to the wiper motor.

The lever with the hole for the wire from the knob is what turns the wiper on and off.

That wiper motor from this add https://www.ebay.com/itm/32468251412...0AAOSwGUNgzN~i with more photos .

[leegreen]

I'd hook to vaccum and see if it works. biggest issue with vacuum wipers is wipers stopping when you are at WOT with no vacuum. That can be partially fixed with a vacuum canister and check valve to create a reservoir of vacuum. For long hills you may need to lift your foot to get a wipe or two in.

Aftermarket electrical conversions are pretty spendy. I built my own starting with a dodge truck wiper motor, the drive plate off a vacuum wiper, some shaft, bushings and and some rod ends. it mounts to the factory mount points under cowl and uses factory wiper pivots/arms.

I mounted switch in factory hole with an intermittent wipe speed control beside it, those are the wires you see. The cruise set button in end of turn signal arm is wired in to get a single wipe.

In retrospect the spendy aftermarket option is probably worth it. There is a lot of geometry going on here to get the correct degrees of wipe and full sweep on both wipers. Project ended up taking a lot of trial and error and way more hours than i care to admit to. But it does work well now.

[dsraven]

nice work around leegreen.

[MARTINSR]

Personally I love the vacuum system, used it for years in both my truck and my Rambler and will use it again in the truck when I get it back on the road. I rebuilt that one and it worked REALLY good. Just oiling the flaps inside will work wonders, they vacuum wiper never gave me an issue on either one.

Brian

[1project2many]

biggest issue with vacuum wipers is wipers stopping when you are at WOT with no vacuum

If the truck has a 12V battery, it's possible to hide an electric vacuum pump in the truck. This might be a cost effective alternative to replacing the motor.

[suburban99]

Went to the U-Pul yard the other day and picked up a square blazer rear wiper motor. Made up a bracket and it actually works ok. I don't plan on driving much in the rain but on the west coast you never know..

[mr48chev]

If you do enough road trips you are going to hit rain sooner or later. I ran vacuum wipers for years and they never worked that well for me, The wiper motor (s) I had may have been worn out beyond help though.

The big problem that I have run into is that no one that I have found sells the gasket for the wiper housing and they almost always tear when you take one apart to clean and lube it. my attempts at making them myself didn't work well either.