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You are here: Home Technical Articles Interior/Electrical Installing a Factory Wiper-Delay Setup
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Installing a Factory Wiper-Delay Setup
 by C. Pate and K. Dickson  ~  photography by C. Pate
Intermittent wipers became available in Ford trucks in 1973. Initially offered as a stand-along option, the setup was offered as part of the Convenience Package starting in 1976, which was standard in the Ranger XLT and optional in other models, and also included a lockable glove box and a 12" day/night inside mirror.
   

Installing a factory Ford wiper delay in your classic pickup is one of the little things that make day-to-day driving much more convenient. The good news is the '73-'79 setups will plug right into your existing wiring. Look for these in XLT Rangers and Broncos. These have been getting around $30-$50 on E-bay.

Here are the basic tools you'll need for this job: A 3/8" nut driver, hacksaw, Dremel tool, Allen wrench and a Phillips screwdriver.

Step 01  -  This is your old factory 2-speed wiper switch. Simply unplug the connections. Even though you're done with this, save the old switch as a backup.

Fig. 1

Step 02  -  Find a good place place to mount the governor.  The backside of the steering column brace is the best place. The governor mounting bracket will have two mounting holes. The screw holding the small black wiring-harness ground wire in Fig. 2 can be used for one of the attachment points, and it's even the correct size for threading perfectly into the governor bracket. (Use the 3/8" nut driver for removing this.) You can drill another hole in the column brace for the remaining mounting screw.

Fig. 2

Step 03  -  The only modification necessary to mount the wiper delay switch is obvious in this shot. The later switch stem is longer and will need to be trimmed to match the length of the stock piece, about 3/8". Then, using a Dremel tool, you'll have to flatten off one side of the stem to allow the '67-'72 knob to be tightened down with a setscrew.

Fig. 3  -  The '78-'79 switch (left) and a stock '67-'72 switch (right)

Step 04  -  The differences in the housing castings (where the switch contacts the backside of the dash panel) can be compensated for by simply stacking a few large washers (or similar spacer) over the stem for a combined height of 3/8".
NOTE: I got this pack of washers from O'Reilly's Auto Parts, DorMan Part# 766-014 1/2". You'll use 3 of these.

Fig. 4

Step 05  -  Install the switch back into the dash and plug into the main wiring harness.

Fig. 5

...and a final shot before reattaching the instrument cluster. You can just see the wiper governor mounted on the backside of the steering column brace.

Fig. 6

Once installed, it looks completely stock.

 

THAT'S IT! YOU'RE DONE!

Fig. 7

NOTE: As described above, the '73-'79 wiper delay units are a plug-in swap into the '67-'72 wiring harness. Everything will work as intended.

However, in 1980 the wiper delay switch's plugs were slightly re-designed. The '80-'86 units will still plug into the '67-'72 trucks' wiring harness and all normal wiper functions will work, but one wire on the delay unit (the power wire to the washer pump) will need to be moved to supply power to the washer pump.

When you connect the main wiring harness to the wiper delay switch's harness, you'll notice that the lime-colored wire (the washer pump's power wire) coming from the main harness does not have a corresponding tab in the wiper delay switch's harness. You'll need to move the black/white wire from the wiper delay switch harness to the slot that will connect it to the lime green wire of the truck harness.

Jeff Ford from Manic Mechanic also produced a short intermittent wiper switch tutorial video on a '72 F100 using an '80s setup.


WATCH IT HERE
on YouTube

You are here: Home Technical Articles Interior/Electrical Installing a Factory Wiper-Delay Setup
 

 


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