Hello, I have a 1957 Chevy pickup truck. It needs to have an updated wiper motor to electric from vacuum type. I was hoping for suggestions or good ideas from those of you who have had this problem before. It does not have to be factory type either. The Wiper Motor mounts under the dash too (incase some of you might have forgot) but I am willing to relocate it if need be. Pictures would be of great help to me! Thanks very much in advance. Curly
The wiper motor in my 55.5 Chevy truck (basically the same truck as yours) is electric, and appears to be an OEM part. Have you tried the usual parts suppliers for these trucks? (Brothers, Classic Parts, etc)
Antny probably doesn't have the original wiper motor in his 55.5 but he may very well have a factory option for either '57 or 58. I don't recall the year it bacame an option but I have seen several '57 and '58 trucks with electric motors and I'm pretty sure it became optional one of those years. Wiper motor under the dash was common for many manufacturers in the mid '50s. A major pain on some models but I would leave it under there, it'll be a pain to mount but how often do you change a wiper motor. There are several companies that make electric motors for vehicles from the '50s and early '60s. Check with LMC in Kansas City ( they have a site) or heaven forbid Speedway for a starting place. Unless you need everything it should run you much more than about 150.00 give or take.
I switched my 55 1/2 ton from vacuum to electric many years ago, and all I did was to buy the electric motor from a 57 Chev from the auto wrecker. It was a no brainer, but I think I also had to use the cable from the 57 as well. Bob
I did this conversion today An electric wiper was optional on 55-59 trucks I bought one (on here) and it just bolted straight in the spot the vacum wiper motor came out of. Even the switch and cable are the same, and slip right in. About a half hour job, including beer........... assuming you are thin and flexible enough to fit in the gap between the seat and the door pillar I'm 6 foot and 240 pounds ..... and it was a tight squeeze Next project will be to try putting a variable resistor into the power feed, to give me intermittent wiper control
55-57 trucks use an electric motor that is very similar to the car electric motor. 58-59 trucks use a motor that is the same as the 58 car motor. The 58-59 motor won't fit in the 55-57 cab, the later cab is made with more clearance for the motor. Also the 58-59 electric motor setup is pretty crappy. I have a few, I know. The 55-57 setup uses the same cable type control as the vacuum motor, the 58-59 setup uses a two speed switch (they're hard to find in good condition). The Newport kit is compact and fits pretty well. The switch/knob isn't so spiffy though.
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