Wiper Arm Stuck At Highway Speed

[Spurshot]

I'm on a trip to pickup a new hunting dog in ND and was driving thru Glenwood Canyon lastnight. I wanted to wash the bugs off while driving and turned on the washer/wipers. The driver's side wiper went clear over past the edge of the windshield, on to the piller and stayed there.

I drove to my destination for the night, but stopped in at a dealer an hour north of Denver. I told the parts guy of my problem and he said it was common for the arm to come loose and strip the splines out of the arm. The arm fitting is made of diecast zinc and the splines in the hole are cut by the splined steel shaft when the arm is tightened on with the retaining nut. He said I could probably just tighten the retaining nut and get away with not needing a new arm. Being on a road trip, I figured I was likely to need wipers and my luck says the problem would come back to haunt me when it was pouring rain and no dealer within a days drive. I bought a new arm partly because the guy helped me and partly because I'm chicken. I had tools, so I tightened the old arm good, checked function, and hit the road.

Nice parts guy. Hajek Chevrolet, Longmont Colorado

The new arm has a hole,, but no splines. Kind of a cheap design IMO.

[music]

Thanks for the info Chuck, and good luck with the new dog.

[jblakeney]

Down in my area of the world.... When it snows, we sell wiper arms..... because people don't know that the arms, motors, transmission aren't capable of removing a couple inches of snow that covers a windshield in the morning. IE snow here is not frequent and when it does usually it doesn't stick.

And some arms don't have the splines in them and some do..... usually ones that are retained with a nut don't..... As it bites into the metal and produces them after tightening the first time. Then ones that have clips do have splines.

Either way, I would have bought a new arm also. It had slipped once it would do it again.

Jbo