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Sun Jun 06, 2021 1:40 pm

So I was going down the road this morning and drove into one of the Florida 2" a minute downpours so I flipped the wipers on and just as the wiper reached the end of the sweep and in the vertical position a gust of wind just blew it off the windshield!

I just replaced the shafts with new ones and tightened the arm retaining nuts to the torque spec in the Bentley.

Sheesh...Mother Nature's still mad at me.

Sun Jun 06, 2021 1:50 pm

Did you clean out the ridges inside the cone in the wiper arm base?

They get full of the softer metal on the wiper shaft cone and lose their ability to dig into the shaft cone area. I usually use a dental pick or the awl on my swiss army knife.

Sun Jun 06, 2021 1:56 pm

dobryan wrote: Did you clean out the ridges inside the cone in the wiper arm base?

They get full of the softer metal on the wiper shaft cone and lose their ability to dig into the shaft cone area. I usually use a dental pick or the awl on my swiss army knife.

New shaft and new virgin wiper arms!
It was a really strong gust of wind. I'm not of mind to trust the torque specs for them again.🤔

Shaft splines okay aside from some metal in some of the splines that will clean out with a pick, but the wiper arm just plain old stripped clean.
Checked the nut and it was tight

Sun Jun 06, 2021 4:21 pm

FYI new wiper are borer are smooth, no splines. The spines inside the bores are made when tightened onto the shafts. Next time apply a drop or two of oil on the threads and face of the nut. A flanged nut works better, a heavy pattern flange nut works best of all.

Sun Jun 06, 2021 5:20 pm

dgbeatty wrote: FYI new wiper are borer are smooth, no splines. The spines inside the bores are made when tightened onto the shafts. Next time apply a drop or two of oil on the threads and face of the nut. A flanged nut works better, a heavy pattern flange nut works best of all.

And if Dan says it, it is so. He was trained by original VW trainers.

Sun Jun 06, 2021 5:22 pm

Wait till winter rolls in and the wipers freeze on the glass...... then you know that torque spec is a joke!

Dave

Sun Jun 06, 2021 5:40 pm

djkeev wrote: Wait till winter rolls in and the wipers freeze on the glass...... then you know that torque spec is a joke!

Dave

I use the torque ‘gutentite’ calibrated to the size of the fitting.

Sun Jun 06, 2021 6:27 pm

rainex is your friend..
clean the glass good. then rainX

If I use my (fragile) wipers it's only on intermittent

here in winter we have to pop the wipers standing upright from the glass..
#1 so they don't freeze to the glass
#2 so that heavy snow doesn't slide them down and off their cone/splines.

Sun Jun 06, 2021 6:29 pm

dgbeatty wrote: FYI new wiper are borer are smooth, no splines. The spines inside the bores are made when tightened onto the shafts. Next time apply a drop or two of oil on the threads and face of the nut. A flanged nut works better, a heavy pattern flange nut works best of all.

Yeah, I know that the arms are soft enough to be a press fit forming into the splines on the shaft.
Going to do some depth measurements to see if it was fully pressed onto the shaft.

Sun Jun 06, 2021 6:31 pm

dobryan wrote: djkeev wrote: Wait till winter rolls in and the wipers freeze on the glass...... then you know that torque spec is a joke!

Dave

I use the torque ‘gutentite’ calibrated to the size of the fitting.

Yeah, but it's only a 10mm nut. Perhaps if I modify it to use the rear axle nut...🤔

Sun Jun 06, 2021 6:36 pm

danfromsyr wrote: rainex is your friend..
clean the glass good. then rainX

If I use my (fragile) wipers it's only on intermittent

here in winter we have to pop the wipers standing upright from the glass..
#1 so they don't freeze to the glass
#2 so that heavy snow doesn't slide them down and off their cone/splines.

I've used RainX before and it definitely works. Ya be careful about carrying the small bottle in the car. That cap does not seal all that great and leaks if it tips onto it's side. That liquid eats plastic!

Sun Jun 06, 2021 7:08 pm

Oy! Too many times down memory lane here, sorry to hear of the effects of time, blades, and the rotary action! I've had a few times where the blades (Bosch, and spendy) seem to just glue down to the glass. Nearly every time now, if I need to use my blades, I pull over and free them from the gription of the glass. No joke, its been so many times that they've just been glued down, that I thought I was going nuts on my torque methods.

But, in general, you all must have heard, use the proper wrench (in this case a 10, 6 point) you (well, if you are generally human) can't over torque a fastener like this. I have my doubts. I've gotten mighty flipped by switching my wiper on at need, and having the DS arm flop over the A pillar. No good in that.

-bobby

Sun Jun 06, 2021 7:19 pm

Use a 7mm washer under the nut, so that the force the nut applies goes against the wiper arm instead of being wasted by just being applied to the shoulder under the nut and washer.

If you can't find 7mm washers at your local Ace or True Value then you can buy them on line or buy a kit that contains them from Go-Westy or others. FWIW, the latest ones I have bought are stainless steel.

I do like to retorque the nuts annually, even if it is only a 1/32 of a turn.