i have an 86 f150 and am trying to replace the wiper motor. i got the 3 bolts out holding it on but now am very confused on how to get the the wipers detached from it so i can put the new motor in. your help would be greatly appreciated. i need to get this done as soon as possible because driving without wipers is no fun. thank you

 

Take the upper panel off in front of the windshield. There are a bunch of little screws around the front, take the radio antenna loose, take the wiper arms off(stick your small screwdriver in the doo-dad to release them) pull up and then forward to slide the panel out from the windshield. You can then get to the wiper linkage.

 

does the hood need to be open or closed to take it off. i tried it today but couldnt get it off. i took off the little screws on the rubber piece under the hood and the 2 on the outsides of it under the hood so it was all loose. but i couldnt seem to get it to come out. unless i wasnt trying hard enough on it. ill try it again tomorrow if i have time.

now after i get it off, what am i looking for next that i have to take off. sorry this is my first time having to replace one so im new to this part.

 

There are also some screws in between the slots of the cowl.

 

You can also be lazy like me and pop the linkage off with a screwdriver and finagle it back on.

 

I thought I remember pulling off the wiper motor on my junk truck that way but wasn't sure. If I remember though, you had to be a little rough with it to do it that way, and I think I had to bend the metal lip on the firewall a little bit to get it out. Taking the panel off is more time consuming, but less destructive.

 

The hood needs to be open to reach some of the screws of the cowling, and needs to be closed and moved out of the way for it to clear the hood and come off. You also need to remove the wiper arms from their pivots.

You can do this in one of two ways, my prefered way is to loosen up the hood hinges and adjust the hood fully forward until is stops. then the cowl will be able to slip out from underneath the lower windshield moulding without having to remove the moulding. Just make sure all the screws are removed holding the cowl on. Also make sure you mark where the hood is adjusted with a sharpie or other type marker so you can put it back and adjust it in the right place.

While you have everything apart, check the wiper arm pivots and linkages, if they are worn, I'd replace them now with the truck apart...

 

Yes, I just replaced the wiper motor on my 86 three weeks ago, I had to loosen the hood bolts to slide it ahead to have enough clearance to remove the cowl vent cover. Since I had it off, I put some screen on the under side of it to prevent all the leaves that fall thru from getting in there. I cut the screen to size and attached it the the bottom of the cowl with silicone. I painted the screen black first so it dosen't look too bad!
That got me to thinking about all the leaves that had gone down in there over the years. I took the kick panels off on the inside of the cab and cleaned a couple of hand fulls of junk out of each one. Over the last 25 years of the trucks life, it is perhaps the first time that they had been cleaned out. Unfortunately in my case, there was corrosion there that I was not aware of. Glad I caught it when I did. This simple wiper motor job really took some time.

 

You might also pull the fan motor from the black box and see if there's any crap in there, too.

Leaves & stuff make their way into there and the resistor catches them on fire.