Wiper arm interchange?

[cruzizzle]

Anyone ever mess around with trying to fit a different wiper arm on minis? Seems like every time I have to change blades on my '91, I either strip the heads off the screws, strip the threads out of the arm itself , or break the screws off flush in the arms due to rusting. (If you live in CA or AZ, )

It sure would be nice if there was a quick-connect style with the hook on the end that had the same splines and overall length. I've heard that most of the trucks used the same wiper arm all the way up to '04. Is that true, and did they use that two-screw design all the way through?

 

[KLF]

Damn, seems to me like you just need to be more careful. I swap blades on my '87 twice a year like clockwork, and I'm still using the original 20 year old arms and screws. And we get a LOT more rust here in New England than you guys do.

But yeah, they did change over to the hook-style arms in the early 90's, I think 93 or 94. My '92 4Runner had the 2-screw style, but my ex's '94 xcab has hooks.

 

[Mike C]

I just went to the dealership and picked up a new set for my truck finally. Next time I will be getting the refill blades.

Anyways rust is a issue here as well, and I snapped the first bolt. After that I grabbed my mapp gas torch and heated the arm up. Was pretty cool watching the plastic burn ;p After heating them up I was able to remove the other 3, and the broken screw as well.

Before doing this though, I called the dealership about getting some new arms. He told me they were 60-63 per side And then he told me that when they break the bolts off, they drill them out and use larger bolts This seemed like a hack fix to me, and this is how my dealership handles the problem. Heating the arms up worked great, and I feel it is the better solution to this problem.

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

Yeah, that's kind of a hack fix, but 1 you are less likely to break a bigger bolt next time, and 2 it beats the heck out of buying $60 wiper arms all day long.....