I got caught in the rain the other day, for the first time since I bought my 66 pickup and suddenly realized how inferior the wipers are. I had quite a time trying to drive in hard rain with only a single speed wiper... and those blades are what, about 13 inches long? Can I upgrade to a two-speed motor by simply changing the motor and switch? Has anybody done this? Is there additional wiring or resistors to add? I thought about getting a longer wiper blade too, it looks as though I can probably add about two inches to the blades without interference.

 

Yes you can, I used the 2spd motor from the 76 donor that I purchased for my power steering & disc brake upgrade. You will need to retain the arm on the back for proper parking. I also added a delay switch at the same time.

Another thing, give the windshield a good cleaning, put new blades on. You are looking through 47 year old glass, and no telling how old rubber wiping it. Get something to stand on, scrub it good. Adding Rain-X could help too.

It is wiping the space that you look through.


John

 

A little more on what John told you. The wiper switch, delay and motor from a later model truck will bolt in and give you a reliable two speed and intermittent wiper system. 100% Ford. The stalk on the switch will be too long, saw it off and install a 66 **** from DC. Use the motor arm off your old system on the replacement motor. No BS bolt on improvement not visible to anyone from stock. All this stuff is available off ebay. Do a search here for intermittent wipers and see what pops up. DITTO on the RainX. IMHO!

 

I've noticed even with the 13 inch blades the right hand side of the passengers blade doesn't wrap around to the side in the parked position due to the curvature of the windshield. I'd think that effect will only be more exaggerated with longer blades. I've been using my red truck as a daily driver and it does clear the area I look through. The delay would be a nice to have.

 

On my '66 I just pulled the switch and black box out of an '88 F350. It plugged right in to my existing harness. Now we just need some precipitation.

 

The kid brother has been driving the 66' for a while now. Hell I thought it has two speeds, but CRS. I was not happy about the availability of wiper blades that fit. Seems they want to sell an entire wiper arm/blade package these days. GO CHINA!! After a lot of frustration hunting OEM type, the metal arms were slid off and new POS plastic or cast pot metal crap arms were put in there place. Kept the original arms for a later date. The cheap POS arms do work and last all of 6 months! before the squeegee blades are shot.

John is spot on cleaning the glass, use windex & a razor scraper! Then Windex & news print to polish it up.

 

Thank you all for the great advice. I'm on the hunt for the parts.

 

John, what vehicle did you get the delay from...?

 

Steering columns and wiper delay setups are very swappable items, vans, pickups, some cars can be used. There are sliding switch controls and rotating controls. A rotating control switch is what is required from late 70, 80 and maybe early 90 model Ford products.

Mr. Wilson (ND) has a much better memory than me on which vehicles that will & will not have them.

Best I can tell any Ford (truck?) 2spd wiper motor is required, with the driver arm on the back swapped with the original to maintain proper parking.

Today I am not sure what exact vehicle my switch came from because I used to go yarding on Saturdays with 3 or 2 other locals hunting for things like that.



John

 

I get my stuff from ebay since the closest pull-a-part is in Vegas about 2 hours south of me. There is a setup on ebay now for less than 50 bucks. You will need the delay/relay box and after that you can buy a new switch and re manufactured motor from NAPA. In the junkyard look for late model trucks 78-80 or so and Broncos. Grab the switch and turn it to the right if it moves two clicks turn it to the left if it moves about half a turn you likely have found what you need. Get the switch, relay (black box about 2x2 inches) and the motor. I core the motors, buy a new switch and install. You can use the old switch for a template to get the sawing off of the stalk right. And not risk screwing up your new switch. You will need a new 66 button with set screw from Carpenter. If you are really talented you can use the push to wash feature on this system. If you do post how you did it cause I haven't.

 

2 speed wipers with delay; "Best thing since slice bread". I put it on all my trucks.

 

William, my 66 came with the windshield washers from the factory with the push button switch just above the ignition switch. I just took the wires from the push button and attached them to the appropriate wires on the delay/push-in switch. I forget which color they were but when I get a chance I can poke my head under the dash & let you know. Hope that helps a little....

 

Intermittant (delay) wipers introduced in 1973 F100/350's & 1978 Bronco's as an option. More commonly found in Ranger XLT's and Lariats. You'll need the wiper switch and the "brain box" (intermittant wiper governor).

If the 1965/66 has single speed wipers, you'll also need the 2 speed wiper motor.
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1965/66 F100/350's with optional windshield washers: 1965's with single or dual speed wipers have a push button washer switch (2C-11500-A) above the ignition switch as do 1966's with single speed wipers.

1966's with dual speed wipers: Before serial number 760,001 have the push button. From serial number 760,001: The washer switch is incorporated within the wiper switch (C6TZ-17A553-B -Marked- C6TB-17A553-B) that has 7 terminals.

Gotta love it! Only a died-in-the-wool Slick owner would refer to 1978 trucks as "late models."

Lotta old piles of misery in the St. George area (founded as a winter home for Brigham Young). Bicycle riding sequence from Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid filmed in the 'ghost town' of Grafton, located to the west.

 

Windshield washers my eye, maybe squirters, I always had to do the washing myself

William, I didn't complete that in mine but as 37 suggested you should be able to move the wire from one switch to the other. My switch has it built in because I can push it back a little. If this was complicated I sure as hello couldn't pull it off.


John

 

Squirters: The hood mounted washer jets get gummed up with wax, road grime and rust/scale caused by using undistilled water.

Remove, soak in white vinegar or CLR.

Not all these trucks came with optional w/shield washers, and some 1966's did not use the push button washer switch (see post 13).

btw: The push button (2C-11500-A) was originally used as the starter button on all 1952 trucks and is available from Ford.