Windshield wiper arm swap?

[Enjoyinglife121]

Hey guys,
Anyone else tired of the stock XJ arms? Every time I scrape ice/snow I have to either hold the arm up or engage the locking pin. Most of the time the locking pin is frozen. So, I have to scrape with one hand, while holding the arm in the other.

Anyone know of an arm swap from another vehicle that has the swing up, spring loaded swivel? Almost all the other cars/trucks I know of (including TJ’s and WJ’s) converted to swing up arms years ago.

I know this is a rather petty inconvenience. But having to scrape the window as often as I have this winter, it’s just something I think I could easily fix.

Thanks,
Kent [img]images/graemlins/burnout.gif[/img]

[JeepSteve92xj]

I think the locvking pin your speaking of is actually the release to pull the wipers off completly.

I do agree that they should be nice springloaded european type arms for cleaning and scraping and sweeping ice off.
It is bad enough on cars with hidden wipers, but the Cherokees are fully accessible.

I dont know if the splined shafts are threaded for a screw or stuf, or what might be available with the little catch. - I havent tried, but it would be a nice thing for sure!

Steve

Yeah, that does suck, I live in vermont so I can feel your pain. I would say just deal with it, not really worth the time, is it? Does anyone's elses wiper (passenger) go so far that it hits the hood on its stroke? Now, that is annoying!

[Fletch1]

You might want to pull it off and move it a couple of splines to get it back on the window, not too far though, you don't want it hitting the other wiper either.

[Enjoyinglife121]

Hi Steve,
I apologize in for the delayed response; I forgot I posted this question.

You are correct they are the locking pins I that I was referring to.

I'm going to pick up a pair of XJ arms from the bone yard and trim a bit of the arm joint to see if I can the existing arms to swing up as everyone else’s does. Maybe that is the quickest / easiest fix.

If I find a simply solution, I'll update this thread.

Thanks,
Kent

Had a friend who said to try wiper arms from Grand Cherokee, or from a dodge that doesn't have hidden wiper. Just make sure it is the same size mount. I was going to loo this saturday at the yards.

[Enjoyinglife121]

Guys,
Hit several yards this past Saturday. Here's what I've learned so far.

I couldn't find a simply way to modify the existing XJ arms to swival out and lock at roughly 90 degrees. I'm now focusing on swaps from another vehicle.

Closest arms to matching an OE XJ for length and sweep was from early 90's Bronco's and mid 90's Discovery. The arms on both is about 1.5 inches longer then an OE XJ.

The mounting for Bronco's is based on a larger splined nut. The Discovery using a smaller threaded bolt/nut combo with a partial splined lower section.

I was planning on modifying the existing splined arm to accept either the Discovery or Brono arms. However, I think I'm going to try finding a way to replace the existing splines with the ones from the donor vehicle.

Bottom line, if I can get this figured out, I'll update this thread.

Thanks
Kent

[JeepSteve92xj]

any new information on this topic? Why we have to solve such a huge issue on our own instead of the auto makers doing it on the drawing board is beyond me. I'd still like to have pop-up arms, rather than hitting my blades every time I clean the windshield.

Steve

I haven't seen anything yet, but I am planning on using a dremmel to test remove approx 1/8th of an inch of metal were bend is on arm to allow to open futher and hopefully stay in place. Will let you know if it works or will have wife type reply if hands are completely badaged.

Snow? What is snow? Oh, you mean that white stuff that I see up in the mountains that surround LA....