[968Syncro]

Driving yesterday in the heaviest downpour I've seen in some years.    With the windshield wipers on high speed, suddenly the driver's side just flipped-flopped back and forth a bit while the passenger side stayed on the steady pattern.   Obviously it was loose, but it went to rest in the down position.  I kept going, 5 minutes from home, peering out a bit through the pass side windshield, there was really no choice other than pull over and wait for..... an hour or two or more.  It is possible that I haven't used the wipers but a total of 3 minutes over the last few years, probably never on high speed.

 

Looking today, the retaining nut was loose (of course).   There are splines on the turning shaft, and splines on the wiper arm, that keep them locked together.  Probably because of the continued wiper motion, it looks like the splines on the wiper arm are pretty stripped.  

 

Anybody have any suggestions for a repair in my garage?   Is there some way to recreate the splines, or mimic the splines, perhaps something like "aluminum foil" as some kind of flexible bonding material?   Or something else other than glue to jam between the 2 mating surfaces?   Else, I suppose it means a new wiper arm.

 

Thanks for any ideas.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[flash]

i may have a set of arms up in the garage attic.  not sure if i threw them away or not.  i can't look though until at least tomorrow and possibly friday.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[968Syncro]

Thank you Flash, that would be great.  I just looked again, the wiper arm splines are very smooth, I'd estimate less than 10% of the spline height remaining.  So it is difficult to think that some intermediate material would cause the two surfaces to grip in the intended way.  No rush by the way, I always have the Vanagon Syncro -- a rain and turmoil expedition vehicle extraordinaire (that I didn't want to take to the business meeting yesterday).

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[flash]

no worries - frankly the reason i can't get to it right away is the rain.  i don't want to pull the targa out into the rain, and i need to do that to get access to the attic.  as soon as i have a break in the rain, i'll pull it out.  i know i had a pair of arms.  i'm just not sure if i trashed them or not when i was cleaning out my attic.  i packed up a bunch of stuff and shipped it, and then repacked a bunch and put it back up.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Grandpa#3]

A back yard jury rig is to drill a small hole through the arm and drive spindle and insert a finish nail. Just make sure the wiper arm is in the parked position before drilling. You can also use 0.020 copper safety wire and lay it across the top part of the drive and push on the wiper arm. Of course a purest would never do either job.

Cheers,
Larry

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Waylander]

The spindle is steel the arm is alloy, just do it up a bit tighter it will dig in and make it grip

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[968Syncro]

Thanks Waylander, that makes sense, I'll give it a try.  Probably I'll switch the passenger side over to the driver's side, since that one most likely has good splines, so the higher probability of failure is on the passenger side.  And then still use a "new/used" good one later.... since this was a pretty bad condition to be in rain with no wipers.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Waylander]

They are handed, well they are on the RHD cars

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[968Syncro]

Ok, so an update.   Tried to move the right side arm over, and it didn't sit right, although I could swear both arms had the same part number.  And the 2 arms certainly align exactly when held side by side.  So I just remounted the left side and tightened it down very well -- like waylander wrote probably the steel of the shaft dug into the alloy metal of the arm.  It goes back and forth just fine -- on low speed, for now.    Hard to tell how well this can be trusted.   I'll probably still seek a new one since that will give higher confidence.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[flash]

update on this end too.  no arms.  not sure where they ended up, but i would guess i tossed them.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[Inkedupfatboy]

For sale, One pair of wiper arms. $20K

High price but comes with free sub 50K mileage cab.

All service done and documented.

Message if interested.

Good luck.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[az968]

What shape are the blades in? Hope they've been changed at the 50k mile mark, if they break it causes all kind of damage to the windshield ?

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[flash]

lol - i have to change my blades every year on the car that sits outside

 

p.s. - for a bit more money, you can have a 56kmile full leather supercharged cab with all sorts of extras.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[ds968]

oh, just use this solution and be done with it already !

 

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[az968]

I think you missed an opportunity to pick up some wiper blades at a bargain price.

 

http://www.maseratinyc.com/used/PORSCHE/...3e4048.htm

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[94SilverCab]

Wow, that really sets the bar...$70k selling price?

 

Jay

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[az968]

Yeah, Flash shouldn't have given away his blue car so cheaply.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[MCL968]

They dropped the price?

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[az968]

Yeah, I guess the $75k asking price was highly negotiable. They really dropped their shorts to give the car away.

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.

[94SilverCab]

I think they actually started at $85k.

 

Jay

Partial Post: Please Login or Register to read the full post.