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? ? How to remove Trico wiper motor - 1939 LaSalle

Started by FRED ZWICKER #23106, August 30, 2006, 10:13:52 AM

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FRED ZWICKER #23106

I want to remove the wiper motor from my 1939 LaSalle convertible coupe, so that I can send it to Ficken for rebuilding. Looking up between the radio and heater, wonder how it can be removed without removing the heater and/or radio? I read on this forum that to remove the radio, it is absolutely necessary to remove the heater.

I am wondering if I can reach into the wiper motor by removing the glove box and getting to in from that side?  What I need are 2 very skinny arms and long, nimble fingers and 20/20 vision without bifocals. This would help some, but even then, seem to think that it could be more work than expected.

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.  Thanks,

Fred Zwicker
1939 LaSalle Convertible Coupe - Maroon

P.S. Before removing the heater (if necessary) I need a new shutoff valve on the heater hose outlet from right bank of the engine, as the valve is stuck in the open position and the small thumb screw rotates freely without doing anything). Are there any sources for this valve?

JIM CLC # 15000

08-30-06
Fred, Try a long screwdriver to remove the "trico". Remove the "keeper", consists of a spring and two thin peices of washer-like metal, from the wiper arms first, try useing long nose plier.
The water shut-off valve for the heater may be repairable if you can not find a new replacement. Braze the "thumb"peice to the valve shaft, if the valve comes apart,do so prior to blazeing. (just in case it has a rubber-seal in it).
Good Luck,JIM

FRED ZWICKER #23106

I was able to remove the wiper motor this morning. The entire job, including careful placement and marking of all of the screws and other parts took a little over an hour. I was able to do the entire job by removing the glove box as follows:
 
a) There are about 8 phillips chrome-plated screws around the perimter of the box near the glove box door. Remove these screws and set aside.
 
b) There is one bolt holding the back of the glove box, that attaches to an "L" shaped bracket attached to the firewall.  Mine had a wing nut, so was easy to remove.

c) As glove box will not drop yet, it is necessary to remove the bracket, which is held in place with a bolt and nut through the firewall. Since I did not have a helper,  I taped a closed-end 1/2" wrench to the firewall (engine side) so nut would not turn and from inside removed the bolt with a screwdriver.  I marked these parts and set aside.

d) My car had an accessory air-inlet on passenger side, so it was necesssary to remove the hose and attaching housings on the side of the heater, as well as on the side of the air-inlet. (I had to remove the cardboard interior trim section, which slips out of the trim near the door fairly easily. I carefully marked each piece (hose, left and right housings and screws) and set these aside. (You can save a LOT of time on reassembly if you do this as you go. I tape every piece, screw, washer, etc. to a piece of plastic or wood and write my notes directly on the masking tape).

e) Push glove box towards engine and drop the open end of box. It takes a little jiggling, but will drop. Set glove box aside.

f) You can now look up and see the wiper motor. Slip off vacuum hose and plug opening if car is to be driven while wiper motor is being rebuilt. Using a screwdriver, remove the 2 bolts that hold motor in place from bottom. I have not yet disconnected the control arms, as they are behind the motor and not easy to reach. The longer control arm is towards driver side - shorter arm is to passenger side.

g) Remove the defroster hoses from heater to the housings that feed hot air to the inside of the windshield. Hoses slip off. There is one screw holding each of the housings in place. Remove each screw and set aside. Housing are held on one side with a small slip-type clip that slides in place. Pull housing to one side to and drop down and out of the area. You now have very good visibility to continue with the wiper motor removal.

h) Look at the bottom of each wiper arm transmission (the part that goes through the cowl to the chrome trim and wiper blade assembly). There is a very small brass round attachment nut that holds control arm to the transmssion. Using a small screwdriver, remove these and set aside (there is also a lock washer - do not lose and keep together. Control arms will then easily pull off the transmission with slight pulling (no tools required for this).

i) There is a small control linkage (looks almost like a heavy stiff wire) that comes from the wiper on-off control on dashboard. This attaches by slipping into the flat on-off control of the wiper motor and a rubber grommet holds in place.  Move the wiper motor around to the right angle and this control linkage wire will slide out of the wiper control.

j) Then remove the entire assembly by sliding towards passenger side of car and down.

k) The assembly that you removed now consists of the wiper motor, left and right control arms and a small spring-type catch with a round (lightbulb shaped) flat washer. Before removing this catch and the control arms, I tooks some good digital photos so would know how to get everything back together. (Anyone can take things apart, but getting them back together can become a challenge).  With a small marker, I also marked each side to tell me which side of the control arm faced the wiper motor when I do the reinstallation. I also marked each arm "drivers side" and "passenger side" for good measure.

l) Wiper motor was frozen (would not move), so it needs a total rebuilding. It will be sent to Fickens Wiper Repair Service in W. Babylon, NY later today via UPS.

Hopefully reinstallation of all of the above components will go well. I made a lot of notes, took about 4 pictures and marked each and every part and screw for no surprises later. The trouble with such projects is the time delay until the part comes back. If not careful, it is easy to forget what goes where and also parts can be lost if not carefully placed.

The best thing about this is that it was not necessary to remove the heater and/or radio.  I got the idea about removing the glove box from my electrical man, who figured out that it would be possible.

It sure will be nice to have working wipers again. From the looks of the wiper motor, it has been frozen for many years, but since this car sat in a museum for at least 8-10 years that I know of, doubt if anyone noticed or cared.

Fred Zwicker
1939 LaSalle Convertible Coupe - Maroon