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MG parts spares and accessories are available for MG T Series (TA, MG TB, MG TC, MG TD, MG TF), Magnette, MGA, Twin cam, MGB, MGBGT, MGC, MGC GT, MG Midget, Sprite and other MG models from British car spares company LBCarCo.

MG TD TF 1500 - TF wiper motor repairing

I've been working on a non operational Lucas wiper motor for a Nash (Austin) Metropolitan. My Lucas book shows it to be the same motor as an mgtf and other period British cars. The gearbox section appears fine and all the usual suspects in the motor have been checked, field, armature, brushes but it appears to be a condition of worn end bearings which cause the armature to seize against the field housing. Does anyone know of someone who is in the rebuilding business for these motors?
John Quilter (TD8986)

http://www.british-car-part-restoration.com/lucas_wiper_motors.html
George Butz

john, it seems with all you have done ..YOU are not that far away from being in the overhaul business. do you need someone to overhaul or to just install new bushes? i think you have about got this job done. regards, tom
tom peterson

LEw Palmer on this board also rebuilds these.
Tom Maine (TD8105)

Hi John,

As you say these wiper motors were used on many British cars, the main variation being the sweeping arc of the blades themselves, controlled by different cam arms in the gearbox itself.

These wiper sweep arcs are not usally that critical, meaning that wiper motors from other cars are a valuable source of spares for TFs, although other car owners might not see it that way! The same brush sets were found on later Lucas wiper motors, used on MGAs and I think early MGBs, which is why new brush spares are widely avalable.

My experience with these motors is that the teeth within the gearbox are prone to strip, so regular maintenance with the an appropriate grease is very important. The original grease is often left in, goes 'stiff', and fails to properly lubricate the gearbox pinion teeth, leading to premature pinion failure.

Cheers,

John
J C Mitchell

In the Y-archives are my wipermotor woes. The TF wiper motor is the same as the Y's.

I copied the relevant pieces below, it may be of some help:

My wiper motor doesn't work reliably even after cleaning the switch and the commutor and brushes.

I now have the wiper motor on the workbench and sometimes it will turn around but will jam after a short while. The cause of this seems to be the faulty bearing holder in the endcap; two of the three "springy tabs" (for lack of a better term) have broken. This causes the bearing to move out of the centre, after which the rotor jams against the housing.

Does anyone have an endcap in good order they can spare? Or is there a source for these bearings and its holder?

Posted 27 June 2011 at 09:11:12 UK time
Willem vd Veer, The Netherlands

I have (temporarily?) solved my problem.

The end bearing is a kind of ball & socket affair. For good (con)centricity the ball needs to be held or pushed into the socket. Originally this is done by a ring with three "springy tabs" but as I said in my previous post, two of them had broken off.

Yesterday I experimented with a spring to push the ball into the socket, but there wasn't enough room for the spring. In the end I used steel washers as shims to "fill up" the assembly, which prevents the ball from leaving the socket and thus maintaining the required (con)centricity.

I'm very pleased to say that I now have functioning wipers again. I'm not so sure that it will be a permanent solution, but it gives me time to search for one at autojumbles.

Willem vd Veer

This thread was discussed between 19/09/2012 and 21/09/2012

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.