Trico Wipers -- 1936 Pontiac

[Bloo]

I have been trying to get my wipers working on the 1936 Pontiac. Last week, I attempted to buy it some blades, and discovered that apparently I have the wrong style wiper arms.

 

In the interest of getting them working for now, I ordered some wiper blade rubber from ebay and refilled them. Today I tried to get the vacuum motor working. I lubricated it, and put some grease on the little sliding valves. It appeared it was going to work, but now I think it just leaks too badly.

 

A bigger problem was trying to get the linkage to work. Some previous owner had disconnected the linkage on the drivers side. I have a document published some years ago by Bob Shafto and Andy Lee on the restoration of 1936 Pontiacs, and it says the wipers should park to the outside. Working on that assumption, I just couldn't get the linkage to work. I tried it backwards, too. No dice. It turns out someone had put screws in the windshield trim about an inch too long, and at least one of them was in the path of the linkage. I also discovered that on the right wiper transmission, the output shaft was not solidly locked to the gear, and the blade position could drift around a little.

 

What a mess

 

I now have all the parts removed from the car. None of it is the same from side to side. The main thing I want to ask tonight is: Are any of these pieces original from 1936, and if so, which ones?

 

 

 

 

[Bloo]

Here is the wiper motor. Could this be original? I will be checking in the morning about sending it off to CleanSweep or Ficken or something. It would be good to know if this is even the right motor.

 

 

 

 

[Bloo]

Here are the wiper transmissions. As you can see, they are a little different. The one pictured to the left is the one that slips.

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2019 by Bloo (see edit history)

[Bloo]

Wiper arms: They don't match, and appear to have a coarser spline that the transmissions they were mounted to.

 

 

 

 

[Bloo]

And finally the blades I refilled. I suspect they are too long. I like that they reach high, but they are probably going to hit if they park to the outside like they are supposed to. They are 8 inches long to the end of the metal.  Like everything else, they don't match. The one with 2 mounting styles can slide back and forth on it's mounting.