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Wiper motor and wiper motor rebuild
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kubelmann
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 8:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

kubelmann wrote:
I beleive that the inside motor parts of a 67 wiper motor are the same as a Thing. K-mann



I thought I told you this at the start of this thread.

Great resolution to the issue.

Like has been said before if you want it done correctly. Do it yourself..

I am shocked that a guy as handy as you had to spend $1.37 on grease and did not have one on hand.

Again, great resolution to the issue... Lucky for you the circuit board was not cracked....
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Thingster
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 9:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I started with your post and used it as the base for my search. What I was getting from your post was to start on the motor side and swap everything into the Thing chassis. I decided to start on the other end and swap the Thing head onto the Bug motor. If that was your original intention, i totally missed it.

Doing it this way there was no fighting with brushes, no soldering, no ntohing like that. Just putting gears back together.

Anyway, the motor isn't ::quite:: the same. The length of the crank off of the output is about 3/8" different. I didn't know if it'd make a difference, so I swapped heads. Basically I took the plate the output goes through and all of the drive gears under it from the Thing motor and put them onto the Bug motor. The support plate is what I had to grind and drill to get the 4th mounting hole back as the plates as -slightly- different shapes.

If someone ahs a picture of the face of the thing motor with the output head removed it would be real easy to show exactly what I had to do to make it work.

And i was out of grease because I'd just replaced the balljoints on my pickup, took a bit more to pump them up than i remembered Wink

Justin
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"I like to take my Thing out and play with it."
1974 Thing (Play Toy)
1957 Sedan(Show Car)
1954 Sedan (On the back burner)
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sdwalter
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 7:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

So I found this thread while searching for how to rebuild a wiper motor. Mine stopped working, which of course you always discover when it is raining. It turns out my problem was a broken rivet on one of the electrical terminals. You can see it here:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


While I was at it, I decided to try to follow kubelmann's instructions and completely disassemble the motor and clean everything up. I took some pictures along the way to help me remember how everything goes back together. You can find a bunch of them in the gallery, but I linked to some here along with Kubelmann's instructions.

kubelmann wrote:
The following post is to be used at your own risk and by those that have some experience with repairing delicate automotive electrical devises. I have decided to post this as an attempt to help. It comes from the RoMTOC Thing Data CD.


The Thing wiper motor assembly is a standard DC motor
with some gears and electrical controls built in. The electrical controls are used to return the wiper arms to the parked position
when the wiper switch is turned to the 'OFF' position. During the following, be sure to keep track of all the various pieces and
screws. Clean everything as it is taken out.
¨ The wiper motor is held to the windshield by a single nut on the wiper shaft. After removing the wiper arm, the large nut,
washer, and rubber washer should come off and the wiper motor can be removed.
CAUTION!!
There are wires connected to the left side of the motor.
+-+-ONE OF THE WIRES IS HOT WHENEVER THE KEY IS ON -+-+
For safety, disconnect the battery before working on the wiper motor.
¨ There are two small screws that hold a U shaped bracket. The bracket is used to hold the wire harness to the side of the motor.
The harness has a loop built in to provide room for the harness to flex when the windshield is lowered.
¨ Get a paper, pencil, and note the color of the wire on each lead on the wiper. There will be a brown wire. Brown is always
used for wires that goes to ground on VW's. The other wires are black, green, black with a white stripe, and black with a green
stripe. These are the power leads.
¨ There is a bail, or wire clip that holds on the cover to the motor, like the ones that hold on the valve covers. Slide it to one side
and remove the cover. Remove the bail and the plastic gasket that seals the cover to the housing.
¨ On the side of the motor where the wires were connected, there is a plate held in place with two screws. Remove the screws,
plate and insulating paper. Gently slide the plastic bracket that holds the connectors in place, straight up. It should be
connected to the rest of the motor with two wires which are connected to the brushes.
¨ On the back of the plastic assembly, there are copper spring contacts. They are moved by a pin that sticks out from the side of
the motor. Remove the pin by pulling it out.


Here is a picture of mine at this stage. Notice mine is missing the copper contact that was connected with the broken rivet.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


kubelmann wrote:

¨ Inside the motor, you will see the brushes that provide connections to the rotor. That part is wrapped with a lot
of copper wire and spins inside the frame. Two of the brushes should have a wire that goes to the plastic terminal strip removed
previously. The third brush has a braided wire that is connected to a screw on the frame of the motor.
¨ The bracket that holds the three brushes and holds in the top of the rotor is held in place by two screws. Remove the screws and
gently lift off the bracket. Try to keep the brushes from coming out of their holders.


A picture with the brush circuit board and contacts removed.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


kubelmann wrote:

¨ Now, the rotor can be lifted out of the frame of the motor. Be careful not to nick the copper wires when prying it out. It will be
'stuck' because there is a strong magnet inside the frame.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


kubelmann wrote:

¨ Remove the other two screws on the top of the magnetic frame and remove it from the motor housing.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


kubelmann wrote:

¨ Now turn the assembly over so that the main wiper shaft is pointing up. There are four screws holding the cover in place.
Remove them and lift the plate up off the wiper shaft.
¨ This reveals the first gear assembly. These very large gears are used to provide the oscillating movement to the main shaft.
Make notes regarding the position of the gears for use during assembly.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


kubelmann wrote:

¨ There is a retaining clip on one of the shafts. Remove it and lift the gear assembly out. There will probably be a lot of old grease
that has gotten hard and needs to be cleaned out.
¨ After the upper gear assembly is removed, and the grease cleaned out, remove the three screws holding the upper gear case to the motor
frame. The case and the cover for the lower gear case will now come off and the speed reduction gears will come off with it.


There are actually 4 screws that hold the upper gear case to the motor frame. You will only see three in the picture because I took one out before I remembered to take the picture. The one in the upper left corner has already been removed.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


kubelmann wrote:

¨ Before the cover is completely removed, note the position of the gears!!!!!!!!! Two gears will come off. One large,
and one small. These also, will be caked with old grease, which must be cleaned.
¨ On the larger gear, there is a plastic cam with a flat spot on one side. This cam is used to push the pin out the side of the motor,
that is used to close the contacts, that is used to keep the motor turning until the wiper arms are back to the home position when
the switch is turned off.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Here is the housing with the grease cleaned out.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


kubelmann wrote:

The motor is now completely disassembled. Assemble in the reverse manner. During assembly, watch the following.

¨ Replace the grease on the upper and lower gears with wheel bearing grease.
¨ The two speed reduction gears must be replaced with the smaller one placed between the larger one and the cover plate. It is easy when there is a lot of grease holding all the parts together.
¨ To get the proper position on the upper gears, insert the commutator shaft through the housing the way it would be but without the magnet frame installed. There are gear teeth on the end of the rotor shaft that engage with the speed reduction gears. You can spin the rotor, which will move the speed reduction gears, and will move the upper gears. When the upper gears are properly aligned, they will move through the complete cycle without binding or hitting the side of the case.
¨ The main shaft may have become corroded which will cause it to bind in the shaft on the housing cover. Clean it and grease as necessary. I use grease that is used on bicycle wheel bearings and is considered somewhat water resistant.
¨ Remove the rotor, and reinstall the magnetic bracket. Before reinstalling the rotor, use 1000 or 1500 grit emery paper to wipe the slotted copper contacts on the top of the unit. Shine them up. After doing that, use an xacto knife and clean out any copper dust or any other dirt that may be in the slots between the copper contacts.
¨ If you have an ohmmeter, use it to verify continuity between the copper segments on the opposite side of the shaft. If there is no continuity, the windings may be bad and the rotor may have to be rewound.
¨ Check the brushes. They should slide easily inside their holders. Hopefully, they did not come out of the holders when the bracket was removed from the motor. If they did, the easiest way to replace them is to pry open the back of each brush holder, remove the spring, and slide the brush into the holder. Replace the bracket over the end of the rotor, and screw it down. Then, slide the springs back into the holders, and bend
the tabs back over the ends to hold everything in place. Try to bend the brush housing tab as little as possible because if it breaks off, it may be difficult to salvage the job.
¨ Check the wires that go from the brush holders to the plastic bracket that mounts on the end of the housing. If they are frayed or the insulation is cracked, get out the soldering iron and replace them.
¨ Be sure to replace the pin in the side of the motor housing before sliding in the plastic bracket.
¨ Do not connect the wiper arms to the wiper motor shaft until you have connected the wires to the motor and run the motor through a complete cycle. Let the motor stop by itself when the switch is turned off. Failure to do this may result in the wiper arms scratching the paint, as they may not be properly aligned.


Wiper motor repair
To "rebuild" a Type 181 wiper motor it is necessary to replace the armature, and possibly the brush assembly. These parts can be salvaged from a type 1, two speed, 12-volt wiper motor manufactured by SWF. This type of motor has a bail to retain the cover and is stamped SWF directly under the bail, it will look very similar to a Thing motor. Unfortunately, I do not know what years this type of motor was used in Bugs. After the correct wiper motor is acquired, it is a simple process to remove the two screws retaining the brush holder, remove the old armature, and replace with the "new" armature. Replacement of the brush assembly can be accomplished by unsoldering the brown and black wires from the type 1 terminal card, and resoldering to the type 181 terminal card in the same locations. Once the motor is reassembled clearances "a" and "b" need to be set according to the VW repair manual section 8.0. Additionally, it is very important to determine what caused the motor to fail in the first place; the troubleshooting section of the VW manual is a good place to start. I also suggest reading the precaution section 8.2.


And finally, a picture of the motor reassembled. Notice that I cut the wires where they attached to the brush housings because they were really frayed and soldered them back to on. I should have taken a picture before I replaced the white cover on the contacts. I replaced the broken rivet with a #8 brass machine bolt and nut.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Well, that's my story. Hope it is useful.

Scott
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BNMike
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very good, Scott Smile My wiper moter isn't working, but I haven't had time to mess with the electrics for it, the turn signals, or dimmer, to figure out if it's just not wired up or what Laughing

BNMike
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analogmax
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

anyone have any ideas on replacing the copper spring contacts behind the plastic assembly where the wires connect? mine seem to be missing.
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Al Capulco
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PostPosted: Wed May 14, 2014 10:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you are talking about the park switch, you will need to replace the entire connector block. But a picture would be helpful.
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analogmax
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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2014 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

here is what it looks like

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Al Capulco
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PostPosted: Thu May 15, 2014 9:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Your park switch is broken. You will need to replace the complete contact block. To replace it you will need to unsolder the two wires, clean them up and solder them to the replacement block. I can send you one if you want, just PM me with your address.
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[email protected]
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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2014 5:21 am    Post subject: Wiper motor Reply with quote

Appreciate the learning that goes on thru this and other forums, because I work so much, I sent mine to Kubelman for refurb, and have been very satisfied. We are blessed with a great deal of "tribal knowledge".
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74 Thing
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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2014 7:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have one and the whole black plastic part with the contact is cracked in half all the way through.

Do you have this part available? Superglue did not hold up.
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Al Capulco
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PostPosted: Fri May 16, 2014 5:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got a few. Pm me and I will send you one.
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analogmax
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PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2014 11:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Got the part in the mail yesterday and tore down the motor and greased and cleaned everything. Wipers work great now, thanks Al Capulco. Now if it ever rains in Az again I will be ready.
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74 Thing
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PostPosted: Tue May 20, 2014 12:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, I received the part in the mail yesterday as well! Thank You! Now I need to get the soldering iron out.
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JayC
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 10:07 pm    Post subject: Re: Wiper motor and wiper motor rebuild Reply with quote

Hi All,

So with the great information in this post, I decided to tackle rebuilding my wiper motor over the weekend. The goal was to replace all the dried up grease and hopefully get a bit more power out of the motor.

Everything went great until I tried to put the brushes back on. All of the sudden, I had two loose copper springs and the brushes in various places. So I am trying to put that piece back together.

I saw the tip:

¨ Check the brushes. They should slide easily inside their holders. Hopefully, they did not come out of the holders when the bracket was removed from the motor. If they did, the easiest way to replace them is to pry open the back of each brush holder, remove the spring, and slide the brush into the holder. Replace the bracket over the end of the rotor, and screw it down. Then, slide the springs back into the holders, and bend
the tabs back over the ends to hold everything in place. Try to bend the brush housing tab as little as possible because if it breaks off, it may be difficult to salvage the job.

Has anyone successfully done this? Any guidance.

What a pain Sad

jay
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Al Capulco
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 11:17 pm    Post subject: Re: Wiper motor and wiper motor rebuild Reply with quote

More times then I want to think about. I would say if you go real slow you should not have a problem. Just don't loose a spring or ruin it trying to get it back in the slot. You want to have a good grip on the brush housing when you pry the back door open. I try to pry open the tab at about a 45 degree at the most and then slide the spring into the slot with a small screwdriver. Use a small screwdriver to gently pry open the tab. If you happen to loose a spring, I have spares, just let me know. Good luck. You will want to have the brush plate screwed down on the motor housing while you do this.
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JayC
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 9:44 am    Post subject: Re: Wiper motor and wiper motor rebuild Reply with quote

Thanks for the tip! I'm going to let my hands steady a bit and then tackle it this afternoon.

When you talk about prying open the back of the brush housing, it is the back side of this picture, correct?

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I'm going to have to spend some time looking at. I do appreciate the information.

jay
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Al Capulco
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 25, 2016 6:24 pm    Post subject: Re: Wiper motor and wiper motor rebuild Reply with quote

Yes, that's it. Once you push the spring in with the small screwdriver close the tab as far as you can with your thumb and then finish with the screwdriver. That step has to be done quickly. Good luck!
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JayC
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 3:45 pm    Post subject: Re: Wiper motor and wiper motor rebuild Reply with quote

Al - thank you so much! Got it all sorted out today. I was kind of dreading this job as I don't have the worlds smallest hands. However, it went pretty well.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I found that using a very small screw driver to gently push the spring in and then hold it in while I gently pushed the door closed worked best.

For those of you reading this and thinking about trying it at home, the whole wiper rebuild was very straight forward. Total time was about two hours. Granted, I didn't have to rewire anything or fix anything. Taking the motor apart, cleaning out all the old grease and re-lubricating everything made a tremendous difference in my wipers. They are smoother, faster, and quieter now.

Thanks all!

jay
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Glidercoach
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 6:38 am    Post subject: Re: Wiper motor and wiper motor rebuild Reply with quote

Anybody know where I can get a set of brushes. A place in Germany want 20 euro, plus 30 euro for shipping to Italy! Mad
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Wiskow
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 28, 2018 2:18 pm    Post subject: Re: Wiper motor and wiper motor rebuild Reply with quote

I recently restored the wiper motor I pulled from a 69 Bug. I think the bearings are worn out because the rotor was rubbing on the stator. To solve this I put a shim/washer to tweek the position of the stator so it doesn't rub anymore.
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