This past spring I came up with a cheaper solution to replacing the 12V wiper motor and switch on my son's 55 F100. Instead of buying a motor and switch combination from the common sources (Mid-Fifty, Sacramento Vintage, Dennis Carpenter) I mated a surplus motor from a 2000-01 Saturn to a Cole Hersee Switch. The moter is listed at a number of surplus houses for less that $20. The places that I found that had this motor are:

http://www.halted.com
http://www.mpja.com/productview.asp?product=15007+MD
http://www.meci.com/product_info.php/cPath/360_221/products_id/4200578

This is a dynamically braked motor (stops at a specific location instead of coasting to a stop). Because of this is requires a switch set up for dynamic braking. The switch that is used for this is a Cole Hersee 75228-04. I found the switch at Redden Marine for less than $15.

http://www.reddenmarine.com/site/new-detail.cfm?id=CHR7522804

The mounting holes for the motor are a little different than the motor that came on my truck, so I cut a 1/8" thick piece of steel and welded it to the mounting plate that was already there. This allowed me to mount the new motor in the correct position. It was then a simple matter of modifying the wiper arm assembly from the '55 to attach to the new motor arm.

A mounting diagram and wiring digram are hopefully shown at the end of this post (If not they will be posted in my gallery). Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of this assembly but it works well.

We were also able to modify the shaft of the switch so that we could mount an original Ford ****.

For a little under $40 we were able to get a new wiper motor and switch into our '55.

Motor Mounting Diagram<o>></o>>

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Sounds great. The vacuum wipers are not much.

Did the motor hook up to the linkage ok? Where are the motors mounted on a 55? Are they the same as the 56 (on the firewall)?

 

I opted for after market, 2 speed wiper motor. The universal "fits all models" had me leery and it turns out I have to "modify the defrost vent on driver side because the motor interferes. It did bolt up to the stock bracket however. I am re-thinking whether I will keep it or not. What alterations did you have to do to the wiper linkage ? Did you mount the wiper swith in stock location, I eneded up moving mine left or original dash location.

Tom

 

The wiper motor mounted in the stock location which as I recall is between the fire wall and a dash brace. With this set up there were no interferences with anything else under the dash.

The linkage has a 3/8" "D" hole in it that slips over the shaft of the motor. The motor I used had a knurled tapered shaft. I drilled out the linkage to a 3/8" round hole and simply bolted it to the motor shaft at the correct clocking.