The Stovebolt Forums Forums The Parking Lot General Truck Talk Problem with Trico windshield wiper

Dear fellow pickup enthousiasts,

This is my first post on this forum so i hope everything works.
Me and my father have an 1951 Chevrolet 3100 at home in the Netherlands. Because i live in the Netherlands I frequently have to deal with rain The original windschield wiper motor didn't work so yesterday I tried cleaning up the motor so it would work again. I installed everything back and the windschield wipers worked beter than before. The only problem is that the wipers only go up and then just stop. When i turn the the knob back the windschield wipers return back down. From what i saw on videos the windschield wipers should go automatically back and forth. Does somebody know what the problem could be?

Kind regards,
Thijs

Welcome - this is typical with these wipers most likely the motor needs to be rebuilt, this is the only place I know that will do it https://rebuildingtricowipers.com/ . there may be options to fix it yourself but I think parts are difficult if not impossible to get. I am sure others will chime in

Good Luck!

I recall that there's a switch that changed which side the vacuum goes into. It may be sticking. It should be removable from the outside without having to disassemble the whole thing. Maybe a little lubricant there would fix it. Worth a try before sending it off to a rebuilder.

I had that problem with one of mine. The switchover valve is small and can get stuck. I work on mine on the bench where In can see everything clearly. I use my central vac to power it.

I had the same issue with my original Trico wiper motor. It didn’t work at all, then I soaked it with ATF tranny fluid and it did work better but it would stop with just a little hand pressure. I sent mine to Fricken Wiper Service (aka the Wiperman), as Cletus1950 has suggested. And as he said, parts are nonexistent. Rumor has it, when Trico went out business, they sold all of their spare part inventory to only a couple of people, with one being the “Wiperman” and they do not sell any parts.

Shipping from the Netherlands may be costly. You could always email or call to see. Another alternative would be to install an electric wiper motor. Most of the cheap wiper motors (made in China), the choke cable is in the way requiring you to move it. The only one that installs without any modifications is one built in the USA by Newport Engineering. It sells for 250 US dollars which is about $75 more that the Chinese imports but from the reviews on this forum, that is what I recommend.

Good Luck with whatever choice you make!

klhansen hit the nail on the head. There is an exploded view of a Trico motor at Schematron.org and about 3/4 of the way down the page it shows the controls which they label "rocker" but we call "reverser". This MUST snap over center when one works the shaft by hand. As stated, it under a plate so dismantling the motor is not necessary.

Thank you for your reactions they really help!

When i took te motor apart I made sure to place everything back how they should be. When I had the front cover off I saw that when I turned the shaft the spring hanger jumped back and forth normally, so I don't really know why it doesn't work with the vacuum on.
As Phak1 mentioned, shipping from the Netherlands to America is really costly and it's not really worth it. The truck itself is in really good condition (for a patina truck) and runs and drives great. We only drive it for fun and for advertising purposes for our gardencenter. So buying an electric motor is also a bit pricy for the little bit that we drive. I always make sure to check the weather before I drive it. But as I said the weather in the Netherlands is really unpredictable. So it would be nice to have working wipers again.

Is Rain-x available in the Netherlands? It is much better than nothing.

Possibly there's something in the motor itself that prevents the vane from going far enough to make the valve switch positions. If the wiper on the vane is displaced to one side, that might be it. I'd try a little bit of lube on the switch. You can't make it worse.

Have you confirmed you have full vacuum at the motor? Is the vacuum hose/line kinked or blocked somewhere?

Mike B