The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk best electric wiper conversion?

I am looking to change my wipers on my Advanced Design Chevy to electric.
Who makes or sells the strongest, most dependable and long lasting electric conversion?
I prefer a quality product over a low price.

For those of you that have done this, why did you choose the one you did, and what is good/bad about it?

Thanks,
Grigg

Grigg,
I\'m working on a huge tech tip from Mike on delay wiper systems and how to retrofit them to your vehicle (from Mike's site with permission).

It really does sound like a great idea to have this feature - if it'll work for your truck.

Just thought it might be something else you'd want to look at as you go with an electric wiper conversion.

Mike did a great job with the Tech Tip and his schematics. Now, I just need to finish up my end.

Peggy

Grigg,

I don't know what year truck you have but I recently saw the Newport system that they have built for the 30's-40's trucks. It is mighty slick but a little pricey. I think it runs in the $400 range. It is a two speed motor with automatic stop. It has two blades and is for trucks with the transmissions over top of the windshield. YOu can probably goggle NEWPORT WIPERS and find out more.

milt mcpherson

Milt,
My truck is a 48, so wipers are under the dash and would be the same as all 48-53, and probably 54.
Grigg

Looks like the Newport wiper motors are about $180.

But how do they compare to other ones?

I know this subject has come up before.
I put a Newport unit in my '47. I don't use the truck a lot, and probably haven't driven it in the rain since I put it in. But the wipers seem to work well. The install was easy--good instructions, and everything fit.
The only drawback (if you want to call it that) is that the electric motor is larger than the old vacuum motor, and as such blocks off the hole where the switch was. So you have to put that somewhere else. The instructions will tell you this.

Rich,
That's good to know about the switch.
Do you think I could leave the old one in place and make up some linkage to connect it to the new one out of the way of the motor under the dash? How close to the hole in the dash is the new motor? That way I would have the originl knob work the wipers.
Grigg

I have the Newport in my '55 1st.

I needed a little tech support right after I installed it, but otherwise it has been flawless, and the tech support (I think it was a phone call) fixed the problem immediately.

Its been working great in the Washington rain forest for three years.

I installed a Newport 2-speed unit in my 1959 Chevy. Installation was fairly simple and has been working without problems for about 4 years. Wipers work a lot better than the old vacuum wipers.

Adam

I've got the newport motor on my 50 and it works good. Same issue with the switch as others have mentioned, (in the way of the motor if installed in stock location on top of dash). My original newport switch recently gave up and I bought a replacement from speedway motors. This switch is much shorter and allows installation in the stock location on the top of the dash. I've even dissasembled the original control knob, drilled out to match the electric switch, installed a set screw, and installed on the eletric switch. Looks completely stock. If you want to use the factory eustechon? (trim nut on shaft) it needs to be drilled and tapped to 7/16-28. The tap is available from enco. John

I use the two speed electric wiper from Chevy Duty which I think is a Newport. That part was easy to install and works well, it's the cheesy wiper blades and the weak arms that's the worst part. I'm thinking of modifying my set-up so the arms apply more pressure and make different blades that will accept modern replacement refills so I won't have to mail order replacements that clean as bad as the old ones. I think if I plow snow while it's snowing again, that will [censored] me off enough to actually get it done,
Scott

you can get the old vacuum motor redid and it will work well.

John1
That's good to know about the replacement switch. What I did was just move over a couple inches and drill a new hole. I know that isn't exactly kosher, but the truck isn't restored right now, so it really didn't matter. If I ever get to that point, I'll probably make some other arrangements.
I agree that the arms and blades are not the most wonderful in the world!

I got the Newport system from Chevy Duty (150.00) for my 56... have had no problems with it. Have a delay system that I'm oging to add at some point so Mike's Tech Tip will come in handy!

i put the electric in my 54 with no problem but then i don't have a radio in mine either which could cause a problem. i switched my wiper blades out with ones that were made for a volkswagon and they fit right on. kept the old ones in case i ever wanted to go back stock etc. i liked the electric over the vacum since at that time i was driving it quite a bit.

Thanks for the info.
Sounds like Newport may be the only choice, and a good one at that.

I don't want my vaccume wipers anymore because I am switching to a diesel, and diesels don't suck...
Grigg
;-)

There is another option out there, but I can't give away all of my secrets...a hint - look at the complete list of applications for the AD vacuum motor.

And just where can we find this list?

I asked a guy that sells and services lots and lots of vacuum wiper motors. He is unaware of any vehicle that used the same vacuum motor as our trucks but was also available with electric wipers.

If you don't want to tell us, can you give us a few more hints. This is kinda fun trying to find it, but only if you tell us in the end when we are thoroughly stumped.

The first thing I did when I got my 54, in 2003, was to order an electric wiper conversion kit from Golden State Parts for $180.00 ... I don't know if it's the Newport or not, I always thought it was the same one that Chevy Duty sells and I would've purchased from Chevy Duty, too, only I didn't know about them at that time.

I had my local mechanic install it for me -- I was too green at the time to do it myself, plus it was COLD outside and I felt wimpy about doing the job -- so I can't comment on the installation process ... it seems simple enough though, except for the back-breaking experience that comes with doing anything under the dash.

When I did my EZ-Wire kit a few months later, I was able to see everything under the dash very clearly and the conversion kit seemed to fit very nicely. It certainly didn't get in the way of the switch at all, although I didn't like the reach for the switch and wound up moving the switch to the lower-front of my dash.

When I installed the Custom Autosound / USA-1 radio/cassette from Chevy duty, I noticed the wiper-mechanism was hitting the top-side of the unit ... but there is an adjustment for that via the radio knobs (they allow you to adjust the locations of the knobs up/down and left/right) ... once I moved the knobs higher, which lowered the body of the unit, all was kosher.

I've been using the wipers regularly for 2 1/2 years now (I drive my truck daily) and have had NO problems. The wipers were a bit of a problem at first, I had a hard time finding the right size wiper-arms and some were very costly! I finally found success via RB's Auto for a total of $90.00:
#TS-4717526NS -- Right-hand Wiper Arm
#TS-4717527NS -- Left-hand Wiper Arm
#077-000122 -- Wrist Type 10" Wiper Blades

Lastly, there was a matter of matching up all the knobs on my dash ... I'm picky about details! And since I'm not restoring my truck, I went with 1955 Chromed Steel knobs from Brothers -- Note: If you are thinking of doing this, be sure and read my notes so you get the right knobs (you CAN be fooled!):
Click Here

To see a picture of what all the matched knobs look like:
Click Here

There was a post years back, on this site or ? about using a VW 12 V electric wiper motor. Man, I can't believe so many people are willing to part with $150 for a little electric motor. I use vacuum, I am a daily driver , '49 3100.

Look a few years later than the ADs...same manufacturer. Near as I can tell, the vacuum motor is identical.

I really don't want to say anything more until I've had a chance to verify the fit. When I know more, so will everyone.